Lady Bobcats Win Region 4-A Championship, Will Face Whitwell

by Rusty Ellis

The Pickett County Lady Bobcats returned to the top of the region with their 58-56 win over the Clarkrange Lady Buffaloes on Wednesday night, clinching both the Region 4-A title and a home substate game.

Callie Reeder led the way for Pickett with a monstrous 26-point, 10-rebound double-double, continuing her excellent play of late, and Emmy Lowe added a stat-line of 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Reeder was named the tournament MVP, and Lowe joined her, Allie Amonett, Zoey Nicholas and Addy Lowe on the All-Tournament Team.

For head coach Brent Smith, it took quite a bit of resiliency from his team to take down a good Clarkrange squad for the fourth time this season.

“It’s always hard to beat Clarkrange, really any time you can beat them,” Smith said. “We came out on fire early, and got up by as much as 14 in the first half. They caught fire in the third and we got away from what we were doing…we showed a lot of resiliency. We got down by five and battled back to take the lead. It was just a lot of toughness for a bunch of young kids.”

Reeder’s performance continues a trend of late of her playing some of the best basketball of her career. Smith says the sky really is the limit for his sophomore post.

“She’s just come into her own these last couple of weeks,” Smith said. “She can score in the post and can score from the perimeter, so she’s really a tough matchup for a lot of teams…I don’t know that she knows how good she can be. As she continues to work, she’s only going to get better from here.”

One thing Smith has emphasized the last couple of games is just how important every game they play from this moment on is a bonus, as it just builds the experience of the team that is filled with young players. He believes this will help the program tremendously over the next couple of years.

“After you get through the region semis, everything is a bonus,” Smith said. “The experience that we’re going to get is just crazy. Getting a home substate game is a dream come true, and these are the nights you never forget. It’s just a blessing to get our kids this experience. We’ve had a couple years where we weren’t in this situation, so it just feels like the first time all over again.”