DALEVILLE, Va. – The 2019-2020 girls basketball season at Lord Botetourt was special for many reasons. But to have it end the way it did, a cancelled state championship due to COVID-19, still stings.
“It hurt the way that season ended, it still hurts,” head coach Renee Favaro said. “I still wish we could play that game, but clearly there’s a much bigger picture now, and I can see that.”
But in her first year as head coach, Favaro was named the Class 3 Coach of the Year.
“It’s definitely an honor to be named coach of the year. Im very happy, but I didn’t get here without being mentored by Chuck Pound,” Favaro said. “I didn’t get here without the coaching staff, players, parents, my family. It’s really a team award, it doesn’t have anything to do with me as far as I’m concerned.”
Chuck Pound was the head coach for the girls basketball team for 23 seasons. Favaro was an assistant under him for eight of those.
“Coach Pound has taught me a lot about basketball but also a lot about how to carry myself. So I really learned a lot of those intangible things from him just because of the kind of person he is.”
The Cavaliers also had two players on the all-state roster, examples of a senior class that will be very missed.
“Miette Veldman was obviously first team all-state. She’s the most decorated player, male of female, in Lord Botetourt history. Taylor Robertson was named second team all-state. Tremendous player who really came on strong at the end of the year who has done a lot for us,” Favaro said.
“Then, we have players like Kenleigh Gunter who has five rings, two in basketball and Meredith Wells, who has two in basketball and she was a second team all-region pick. I’m really sad their season was cut short and we’re really going to miss everything that they gave to our program.”