For the Floyd County High School girls’ basketball team, the dream ended early Saturday afternoon in Richmond — their hopes for a perfect season dashed by a devastating loss to Clarke County in the Virginia High School League’s state final at the Siegel Center.

The 69-64 final score was deceptive. Clarke County beat Floyd at their own game with a crushing full-court press that threw the Lady Buffs off from the opening. Floyd lead by 10 points at one point in the first quarter and then fell behind by nine at the end of the half. They closed, to within three in the closing minutes but could never complete the sale. But they fought to the final buzzer and never gave up.

Still the girls team have no reason to feel ashamed. They battled a season of loss with the death of coach Alan Cantrell’s grandson from a rare brain tumor just two weeks ago. The team wanted desperately to win this one for Cantrell and his son, the assistant coach.

But ti wasn’t to be.