Belle Heth Elementary students and staff attended Education Day at the Dedmon Center Tuesday including this group of fifth graders.
Once again, the Cardiac Kids provided a thrilling finish, overcoming a 15-point second-half deficit to improve Radford’s winning streak to 18 straight inside the Dedmon Center with a 56-53 Education Day victory over UNC Greensboro Tuesday morning.
Developing the nickname a season ago, Radford has played 16 games decided by three points or less since the 2015-16 campaign, possessing a 12-4 mark in those games.
In front of 2,627 students from schools around the New River Valley, Radford’s defense held UNC Greensboro to a 29.2 field goal percentage in the second half as the Highlanders used the energy provided in their third annual Education Day.
Radford University head coach Mike McGuire looks forward every year to the special afternoon game held at 2 p.m. this time around.
“Education day is one of my favorite games of the season for various reasons. Just to see the energy, the smiles and the number of kids that are happy in the Dedmon Center is really exciting. Not just for us to play basketball, but to give young kids a chance to be on a college campus and to watch a college game. Anything we can do to use our platform to help kids in the community and build the relationships within the community is what we want to do. We have come a long way in three years and don’t want to go back. It’s a great thing we have going right now,” he said.
For the first time on the court since March 11, Radford had two players finish with double-doubles. Jayda Worthy led with a team-high 16 points, pulling down 11 rebounds. Worthy’s senior counterpart, Janayla White tallied 15 points and a team-high 12 boards, including five on the offensive glass.
UNC Greensboro controlled a majority of the first half, leading the Highlanders 32-23 at halftime after holding Radford without a field goal for a span of 9:29 in the half. The Spartans used a 14-3 run to extend its first half edge.
Knocking down a pair of three-pointers and a three-point play by Brandi Fier, UNC Greensboro extended its lead to 15 (41-26) with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter. A scary moment in the quarter came at the 6:42 mark as Worthy went down with an apparent knee injury after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Appearing rattled on the floor, Radford appeared to regroup after watching their tough teammate walk back to the bench as the Highlanders used a 13-3 run at the end of the third quarter to pull within five of the Spartans.
Worthy reentered the game with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter, immediately making her presence known with a block that led to her own three-point play on the other end. On the next UNC Greensboro possession, Worthy forced a turnover and was fouled on a transition layup, sinking both free throws. Five straight Worthy points inched Radford within 43-37.
Following a Spartan free throw, Lydia Rivers grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed Claudia Quevedo 3-pointer, just beating the buzzer on the put back to send Radford into the final quarter trailing 44-39.
Joining Worthy and White in double-figures, Khiana Johnson knocked three of her 10 points to start the fourth quarter off a Spartan turnover, cutting the deficit to two points.
Trading baskets for most of the final quarter, Radford gained momentum on a 9-3 point swing off of transitional play. Quevedo forced a turnover, leading to a Johnson fast break layup, before getting a fast break layup of her own to fall as Radford took its first lead of the game.
Taking the lead (51-50) with 3:21 left in regulation, Radford looked to its defense to create scoring opportunities, but was held scoreless for almost the final three minutes of the quarter.
UNC Greensboro took a 53-51 lead with just under one-minute left to play. Radford called a timeout to advance the ball to midcourt with 49.3 seconds on the clock. Letting their offensive set come into fruition, Worthy found White for a strong layup and a foul. Finishing 7 of 9 from the free throw line, White calmly drained her free throw to give Radford another one-point edge (54-53) with just under 35 seconds on the clock.
Radford’s defense did not allow UNC Greensboro to get a final shot off, forcing a shot clock violation with 2.7 seconds remaining. Fouled on the inbounds pass, Quevedo made two free throws to keep Radford’s home winning streak alive with a 56-53 comeback victory.
Radford improves to 22-11 in games decided by five-points or less during head coach Mike McGuire’s tenure.
After going 4-10 in home games during McGuire’s first season in 2013-14, McGuire has guided the Highlanders to a 36-8 record inside the Dedmon Center, including a league-best 18 straight.
Holding UNC Greensboro to a season-low 53 points, Radford improves to 15-3 in its last 37 games when holding opponents below 60 points.
Janayla White picks up her second double of the season and the 25th of her career. Jayda Worthy earned her first double-double and the 13th of her career. Not recording a blocked shot on the season, Worthy finished with four in the contest. The duo combined to go 14 for 18 from the charity stripe as Radford finished 18 for 22 as a team.
On the season, Radford is shooting .705 as a team. Forcing 19 turnovers, Radford turned them into 16 points, and crashing the offensive glass, Radford’s 14 offensive boards created 14 second-chance points.
UNC Greensboro led for 35:22 with the Highlanders leading for a mere 52 seconds in the comeback.
McGuire said coming out of the locker room at halftime his team had decided they had to win the third quarter.
“There was really no option about that if we were going to be in the ballgame simply because of how UNC Greensboro was playing and shooting the ball. In the past, we really haven’t been a third quarter team. I like how we’re growing in that aspect and really trying to establish a tone on how we want to play. The fourth quarter we turned it up and it was exciting to watch,” McGuire said.
After concluding November play, Radford begins December action up the road as the Highlanders take on Virginia Tech on Dec. 3 in a 2 p.m., New River Valley showdown inside the Cassell Coliseum. The Highlanders are looking to snap a seven-game skid to the Hokies in the first matchup not played on Dec. 21 since 2009. Radford’s last win in the all-time series came on Nov. 10, 2006 with a 67-60 win in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech leads the all-time series 26-9 with a 15-4 record at home.
–RU Athletics
