Surviving the Basketball Crunch

Electric power and school time weren’t the only things affected by a particularly snowy January at FCHS. Snowstorms causing power outages across the state also contributed to a vastly compressed basketball season featuring postponed, scheduled, and rescheduled games, as well as limited practices.

Cramming in so many games in a shorter period of time put major stress on students’ abilities to do school work as they frequently had to leave school early to make it to their games. “[Having] 15 games in such a short amount of time has definitely been tough on us because not only are we extra tired, but it also doesn’t leave as much time to do homework. So time management has been really important this season,” said girls varsity athlete and junior Abigail Seal.

Meanwhile, the teams had to cope with less time to practice. “Playing games in such a short span is quite a whirlwind. It makes preparing for your next opponent quite difficult. It also limits the amount of time we have to practice and sharpen our X’s and O’s that we implement into games,” said varsity boys’ basketball coach Heath Bralley. “I wouldn’t say it makes it harder to run plays, but it makes it harder to add plays or strategies to what we already do, as well as sharpen the things we already do,” he added.

The result is that every moment during practice this season became especially precious. “On days where we have shortened practice, we get in the gym and do what’s needed to be done so that way we can rest and be ready for the next games,” said Seal. “It was harder to get down the newer plays and what we needed to get done,” said boys varsity player and sophomore Connor Jeffries.

Despite the pressure of the recent circumstances, girls varsity managed to secure a regular season record of 14-7. The Lady Flucos even made it to Regionals, taking on Charlottesville on Feb. 22, where they fell just short of a win to move beyond.

“The game started off really good for us. We kept the lead every quarter by a few. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter didn’t go as planned for us. The score at the end was 57-45, we lost. We knew it was going to be a tough game but we all had hoped we could win. Either way, this season was the most enjoyable one for me, and I can’t wait to play again next year,” said junior and girls varsity player Asiana Hawkins.

As for boys varsity, they matched the girls’ success with their own 14-7 regular season record, then took on Rustberg on Feb. 18 for Regionals. “We started off fast and executed on defense and it led to some quick easy points. A couple of people got in foul trouble, but people stepped up and played some big roles so we played well as a team,” said senior and varsity player Kobe Edmonds.

Varsity boys proceeded to beat Wilson by a score of 71-65 at Wilson on Feb. 22, followed by another strong win of 82-68 against Liberty Christian on Feb. 24. They played for the Region 3C championship on Feb. 26 at Spotswood, but the game ended in a 64-49 loss for Fluvanna, ending their regular season, although they will have secured a berth at the state championship in March.