PALMYRA — After playing 40 straight minutes, Fluvanna’s Mia Loyd stepped to the line with her team down one to rival Western Albemarle. She ever so calmly hit her two free throws for the Flucos to advance to the Region II Division 3 Championship Saturday night.

“I had to do it for my team. They have worked as hard as I have and for me to pay them back by making those free throws, I’ll do it. And I did it,” said Mia, the Jefferson District Division 3 Player of the Year.

The Flucos led 32-22 early in the fourth quarter. Western ended regulation on a 13-3 run sent the game to overtime and the fun only began.

With 27 seconds left in the first overtime, WAHS floor general Kelsey Swanson drove down the court and dished to an open Carolyn Schneller who hit a jump shot to put Fluvanna down one.

FCHS quickly brought the ball right back down and senior Sarah Ryan passed to Ashleigh Harris who was fouled on a missed 3-point shot. The Fluco freshman made only her second free throw to send it to a second overtime with the score knotted at 39.

“[After missing the first,] stepped back, took a breath and just putting it in the hoop,” said Harris who finished with one point.

The second overtime was played just as tightly as the game was tied with less than a minute to go. Western’s Ellen Shaffrey was fouled on a missed shot and made the first of two with 7 seconds left.

The latter free throw was rebounded by Mia who went down the court and found her way to the charity stripe with 1.7 seconds remaining. Her two made free throws gave Fluvanna their first regional semifinal win since joining the Jefferson District.

“I love these girls to death. They have been working their butts off since day one. They deserve everything they are getting now,” Fluco head coach Chad White said.

An emotional WAHS coach Kris Wright said following the game, “Can’t say enough about kids on both teams—battling as hard as they could battle for as long as we would let them battle.

“One team came out on top, it was unfortunate it wasn’t us but Fluvanna deserved it. They earned it, it wasn’t like we lost the game.”

Mia and K-anna Loyd led Fluvanna with 17 points each. They were the only Flucos to score in the first 20 minutes of action.

The Flucos trailed the whole first half until Lauren Key stole an errant WAHS pass and found Mia underneath the basket. Mia’s layup went in as time expired to give Fluvanna a 18-17 advantage at the break.

“It was very intense. I messed up [on the previous play] so I wanted to get the ball back and redeem myself,” Key said.

The momentum shifted to Fluvanna following that final play of the first half. The Flucos were able to stretch the lead to 28-22 in the third quarter behind four points from Millicent Williams.

Fluvanna next travels to Orange to play undefeated Millbrook High School. Game time set for 6 pm.

“We are not done,” Mia Loyd said.

The Flucos will first face Millbrook then will play in the Division 3 State Tournament next week. Opponent and location are dependent on the outcomes of Saturday’s games.
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Fluco Blog Live! audio from the both overtimes

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