Skinner steady in Lady Tigers’ scrappy win over Broome

Blue Ridge girls basketball clawed out a 48-39 win over Broome to stay perfect through three games of region play.

Take them how you can get them.

That was Blue Ridge girls basketball head coach Alex Smith’s message to his team after a messy, grind-out 48-39 win over Broome on Wednesday night.

“Night in and night out, we know that we’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” said Smith. “We’ve built something here at Blue Ridge where it means something to beat us.”

After the Lady Tigers dominated the first half — leading 30-13 at the break — Broome came out firing to begin the third quarter. The Lady Centurions went on an 8-0 run to begin the half and closed the gap to 38-35 at the beginning of the fourth.

Blue Ridge (16-3, 3-0 region) locked down on defense to pull away in the fourth.

Smith credited senior captain Claire Skinner for coming through late in the game. Skinner finished with 13 points.

“I feel like I made some big shots,” said Skinner. “As a team, we had to really lock in at the end of the game.”

“Claire has the ability to shoot the ball extremely well, but she’s also a great defender,” said Smith. “A lot of the girls weren’t really hitting shots tonight, so we really needed her to step up and she did. She played a great game.”

The Lady Tigers will continue region play on Jan. 30 with a rematch against Broome, this time at home. Blue Ridge is aiming for a fourth-straight region championship.

“We’ve won this region three years in a row, and we believe we can make it a fourth,” said Smith. “But we’re trying to make sure our kids know it’s not going to be easy.”

THE SCORE BY QUARTERS

Blue Ridge 12 18 8 10 48
Broome 3 10 19 7 39

BR STAT LEADERS

Anyah Henderson - 18 points
Claire Skinner - 13 points
Zikira Henderson - 8 points