JF girls nip Fluvanna County in Beacon Classic

After scoring a combined 23 points in the first three quarters, Jefferson Forest erupted for 20 fourth-quarter points to pull away from Fluvanna for a 43-31 victory in the Eighth Annual Beacon Basketball Classic at E.C. Glass High School on Saturday.

"I’m really proud of my girls tonight," JF coach Paul Redgate said. "They’ve had a couple of tough losses and things didn’t go their way for the first three quarters, but they showed their character in the fourth quarter. We made some outside shots and played some great defense."

The Cavaliers (1-2) carried a 23-21 lead into the start of the final eight minutes, but the Flying Flucos rallied to tie the game at 24, all on a Lyra Payne’s stickback.

However, Forest finished the game on a 19-7 run powered by second-chance points and a pair of 3-pointers by Erin McKeague. The Cavaliers grabbed three offensive rebounds that led to six second-chance points.

Kaila Reese, Anna Carter and Amber Evans each grabbed an offensive board that led to points. Reese and Carter scored on stickbacks. Evans was fouled and sank a pair of free throws. McKeague made back-to-back 3-pointers that put Forest up 31-26 and 34-26 with 3:33 to play.

Forest also made six of its final eight free-throw attempts to salt the game away. McKeague scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the fourth. She also finished with five assists. Carter added nine points and nine rebounds. Evans had eight points and nine boards.

"Erin really came up big for in the fourth quarter," Redgate said. "She is a great leader."

E.C. Glass cruised to a 57-22 victory over Tunstall in the final game of night. The Hilltoppers (2-3) pulled away from the Lady Trojans by outscoring them 13-2 in the second period to take a 29-9 lead into halftime.

Meshauna Wade led Glass with a game-high 13 points. Aliya Austin chipped-in 11 points and four assists. Darnette Murphy added 10 points and Jasmine Long finished with six points and 10 rebounds.

"This is the kind of game that allows you to have some of the players to come off the bench and score some points," Hilltoppers coach Van Porter said. "This is the fourth year in a row we’ve played in the tournament. We had great time and it is for a good cause."

In the first game of the day, Liberty Christian Academy defeated Staunton River 65-54 in overtime. The Lady Bulldogs’ Courtney Powell drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 50 and force overtime.

LCA (4-1) rolled over the Golden Eagles (2-2) 15-4 in the extra period. Powell scored 17, including four 3-pointers. Alana Arias added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs.

Jodi Salyer led Staunton River with 18 points, Brianna Holdren added 16 and Shaniesha Robinson chipped-in with 11 for the Golden Eagles.