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The Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team dropped a pair of nondistrict games last week, falling at home against James River 43-40 on Tuesday afternoon before suffering a 47-32 road loss to Hidden Valley on Friday afternoon.
Despite an impressive comeback from a 12-point first-half deficit, the Wildcats (1-8) came up short against James River.
With the win, the Knights (7-1) completed a sweep of the season series with the Wildcats. When the teams met on Dec. 13 in Buchanan, JR won 50-36.
In the rematch, the Knights led 12-6 after the first quarter and went on an 8-1 run in the second quarter to extend their lead to 20-8. The Wildcats answered back with an 8-0 run to end the half, starting with a 3-pointer from Emma Clark and including a pair of inside baskets from Maddie Dahl to cut JR’s lead to 20-16 by halftime.
The Knights opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Keira Crawford and gradually extended their lead to 11, but the Wildcats cut it to 30-26 by the end of the third quarter.
JR held onto a small lead in the fourth quarter, with Lola Mulitalo hitting two inside shots to cut it to 33-30, before the Knights made four consecutive free throws and scored on a layup to extend it to 40-30. Three-pointers from Clark and Abby Bouchard, along with an inside basket from Nevaeh Moore, helped cut JR’s lead to three just before the end of the third quarter.
In the final frame, the Wildcats outscored the Knights 1413. Reviewing RC’s offensive surge at the end of the game, RC head coach Andrew Bellairs said, “It felt like that was the best our offense looked all game, and we weren’t really getting much movement outside of that beforehand. It’s just still finding that consistency on offense and finding the easy cutters. I thought we missed a lot of really easy, good open looks.”
Clark led RC with 13 points, sinking two 3-pointers, while Bouchard scored nine points, making two triples, and dished out three assists. Mulitalo added seven points and grabbed three steals, and Moore scored five points and grabbed five rebounds and four steals. Dahl chipped in four points, pulled down five rebounds, dished our four assists and made four steals, and Rachel Hines scored two points and led RC with six rebounds and five steals.
JR’s Caitlin Canada led all scorers with 19 points, while Siera Davis scored nine and Alexis McCullough added eight.
Bellairs said Canada played well, but he was proud of his team’s box-and-one defense, with Mulitalo guarding Canada. “Lola played really, really outstanding defense,” said Bellairs.
“Defensively, we were so crazy good, all over the floor,” added Bellairs. “We just can’t find a way to put the ball in the basket sometimes, and that’s really tough.”
RC committed 27 turnovers, while JR had 30.
HV 47, RC 32
The Wildcats concluded 2022 with a 47-32 road loss to Hidden Valley on Friday afternoon.
With the win, the Titans completed a sweep of the season series with RC. When the teams met on Dec. 21 at RC, HV won 51-39.
In the rematch, Bellairs said the Wildcats “played phenomenal defense.”
The Titans jumped out to a 19-11 lead after the first quarter, but the Wildcats held them to one point in the second quarter, cutting HV’s lead to 20-17 by halftime.
HV answered back by outscoring the Wildcats 11-2 to go up 31-19 by the end of the third quarter, and the Titans held onto a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.
Hines led RC with 10 points, hitting two 3-pointers and grabbing five rebounds and four steals while dishing out three assists. Dahl and Mulitalo each scored eight points. Dahl led RC with 11 rebounds and had a block and a steal, and Mulitalo pulled down 10 boards. Jaci Moore chipped in four points and four steals.
HV’s Avery Tanis led all scorers with 24 points, the same total she had in the previous game against the Wildcats, making four 3-pointers. Bellairs said Tanis “had an outstanding game offensively. Even with hands in her face, she was making amazing shots. We lost her on defense a couple times as well.”
Rebekah Dragovich added 14 points for HV, sinking four 3-pointers, and Audrey Pearson chipped in four.
The Wildcats struggled to take care of the ball, committing 29 turnovers.
Acknowledging his team’s improvement, Bellairs said, “I feel like we are right on the edge of the light bulb just starting to click for four or five of the girls on offense.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Salem yesterday and will begin Valley District play at Harrisonburg on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. They’ll play at rival Parry McCluer on Saturday, with the JV girls’ game at 1 p.m., followed by the JV boys’ game at 2:30 p.m., the varsity girls’ game at 4 p.m. and the varsity boys’ game at 5:30 p.m. RC will then play host to Riverheads on Tuesday, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m.
