JV Raiders live to fight another day

COURTLAND
Due to this week’s inclement weather, officials with the Virginia Commonwealth Conference have decided to do away with the quarterfinal basketball games and advance the top four seeds to the semifinals. With the girls and boys holding the No. 5 and 6 seeds, respectively, Southampton Academy is on the outside looking in at the tournament held at Richard Bland College in Petersburg.

“You kind of hate to do that, but with this weather, and with everyone out of school, there was nothing we could do,” said Raiders athletics director Dale Marks. “Instead of pushing it into next week, the conference decided to drop the quarterfinal games.”

Today, on the boys side, Amelia Academy will play Richmond Christian, and Tidewater Academy will play Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot. The winners will advance to the championship on Saturday.

On the girls side, Amelia Academy will also play Richmond Christian, and Brunswick Academy will play Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot. Again, winners will play in the championship on Saturday.

Without a tournament run, neither team earned enough power points to make VISAA’s Division III State Tournament. On the boys side, wins against state ranked No. 4 Amelia Academy, No. 8 Tidewater Academy and No. 10 Blessed Sacrament might have helped. For the girls, Amelia is currently ranked No. 3, Richmond Christian No. 9, Brunswick No. 10 and Blessed Sacrament No. 12.

The JV Conference Tournament was also similarly altered, with only the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds scheduled to play Saturday. For the JV Lady Raiders at No. 3, the season is over, but the boys team locked up the No. 1 seed. They will play Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Richard Bland College.