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The Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team went 1-1 in its home Jaden Baker Tournament this weekend, while Rockbridge County lost both of its games in Buena Vista.
Both local squads fell to defending Class 1 state champion Rappahannock County, which defeated the Wildcats 65-26 on Friday before downing the Fighting Blues 38-20 on Saturday. PM claimed a hardfought 33-27 win over Northside on Friday evening, but the Vikings rebounded with a 54-29 victory over RC on Saturday.
Summer Shackelford of the Rappahannock County was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player. She was joined on the all-tournament squad by teammate Chloe Jenkins, PM’s Victoria Hamilton, Wildcat Ruby Goodhart and Northside’s Ameia Bratton.
The annual hoops tournament at PM honors the memory of Buena Vista native Jaden Baker, an 8-year-old who died in a car accident in 2013. This year marked the ninth edition of the two-day classic.
Rappahannock 65, RC 26 Rappahannock County coasted to a 65-26 win over RC in the tournament opener on Friday.
Brooke Atkins scored 19 points to pace the Panthers, while Chloe Jenkins notched 18 markers and Shackelford finished with 17 points. Bella Dorey led the Wildcats with 10 points and four rebounds, and Emma Clark added six points.
RC hung with Rappahannock County early, trailing 8-6 midway through the opening period. But the Panthers then went on a 16-2 run that stretched into the second quarter, going ahead 26-8. The ’Cats wouldn’t carve the lead under double digits for the rest of the night.
The Panthers returned several key pieces from last year’s state title squad, and they certainly looked like a seasoned basketball team.
“They were fundamentally sound. I’m not taking anything away from them,” RC head coach Darrell Plogger said. “They knew what they wanted to do; they knew where to get the ball; they made shots. They played great.”
And the Wildcats made too many mistakes to compete with such a high-caliber opponent. Plogger’s young squad – the RC roster features several new faces and doesn’t have a single senior – is struggling to adapt to game situations at the varsity level.
“The lights come on, and we forget everything that we’ve practiced,” the Wildcat coach said. “Part of that’s being young and not having a lot of playing experience. … We’ve got to get it quick. We’ve got to improve.”
Natalie Samante chipped in four points for RC, while Goodhart notched four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
PM 33, Northside 27
PM scored the final six points of the game to earn a 33-27 victory over Northside in Friday’s nightcap.
Hamilton put the Blues ahead 29-27 on a layup with 1:28 to play, and Tatyana Turner and Hamilton each hit a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice the win. PM also held the Vikings off the scoreboard for the final three minutes of the contest.
Hamilton tallied a gamehigh 15 points and snared five rebounds for the Blues, while Turner and Natalie Mohler finished with seven points apiece. Ameia Bratton led the Vikings with 11 points.
The game featured five ties and seven lead changes, and neither team led by more than four points until the Blues’ clinching run. PM head coach Adam Gilbert was understandably pleased with his team’s composure and lategame execution.
“I thought we handled the ball pretty well late, and we boxed out,” Gilbert said. “We spread the floor out; we got to the foul line and hit free throws.”
After a couple of hiccups against Northside’s defensive pressure in the opening minutes, the Blues settled down and controlled the tempo. Na’Kamiyah Martin grabbed seven steals for the Vikings, but overall PM finished with a manageable 15 turnovers.
On the defensive side, the Blues kept Martin and Bratton from attacking the basket, forcing Northside to settle for jump shots. While the Vikings knocked down six 3-pointers in the game, they shot just 27 percent from the field. PM also held a 30-24 advantage on the glass.
“We did a really good job helping on the gaps. They weren’t able to drive. … We got to the boards and limited them to one shot per possession for the most part,” Gilbert said. “We did a really good job of controlling the pace of play tonight, which we thought was key coming into it.”
Taylor Jones collected 11 rebounds for Northside, and Martin notched four points. Payton Emore posted seven rebounds and three assists for the Blues, while Addisen Roberts also doled out three assists.
Northside 54, RC 29
A pair of lengthy scoring droughts doomed RC in a 54-29 loss to Northside on Saturday afternoon.
Bratton tallied 20 points and Martin added 16 to lead the Vikings (2-3) to the victory. Goodhart paced the Wildcats (0-4) with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Northside capitalized on the Wildcats’ offensive struggles by generating a big scoring run to start each half. The Vikings opened the game on a 13-0 spurt, holding RC off the scoreboard until Parker Dameron’s basket at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter. They also notched the first 14 points of the second half to build up an insurmountable 42-13 lead.
The Wildcats struggled mightily with Northside’s pressure defense, committing 36 turnovers in the game. Missing a key ball-handler – Dorey battled through an injury in Friday’s game, but she had to sit out against the Vikings – didn’t help the cause.
“We weren’t ready to play,” Plogger said. “That’s not going to happen again. We’ve got to come out with some intensity.”
Zarie Hardy chipped in 10 points for Northside, and Jones finished with five markers. Brooklyn Beverly scored five points for the Wildcats, while Clark, Sadie Moore and Des Butler added four points apiece for RC.
Despite the lopsided defeat, Plogger could point to the play of several young Wildcats as a bright spot. The RC coach highlighted three of his underclassmen for their performances in the game.
“Ruby [Goodhart] is coming along. Nobody outworks her – there early [to practice], stays late, working on her game every day,” Plogger said. “I thought Sadie [Moore] gave us a great effort; Brooklyn [Beverley] gave us a great effort.”
Rappahannock 38, PM 20 The Panthers led wire-towire in dealing the Blues a 38-20 defeat to close out the tournament on Saturday evening.
Jenkins tallied 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Shackelford recorded 13 points, eight boards and four blocks as Rappahannock County improved to 4-0. Hamilton scored nine points for the Blues (2-1), and Emore recorded six markers and seven rebounds.
The Panthers jumped out to a 12-3 advantage late in the first quarter, going on to stretch the margin to 19-5 midway through the second frame. They held a 21-9 edge at halftime.
While PM trailed by double digits for most of the second half, the Blues rallied to pull within nine (29-20) on a pair of Hamilton free throws with 4:03 to go. But those would prove to be the last points of the night for the home side, as Rappahannock County closed the contest with a 9-0 stretch.
The Blues’ defensive effort against a high-scoring Panther squad gave them a chance to win – or at least stay in the game. But PM couldn’t capitalize at the other end of the floor, knocking down just 7-of-37 field goals (18.9 percent) on the night.
“Coming into it, we talked about the pace of play… We wanted the game in the 30s or the 40s,” Gilbert said. “I thought we did enough defensively. Just offensively, we had trouble scoring tonight. Give credit to Rappahannock County: I thought they played well defensively.”
Abigail Atkins notched six points and eight rebounds for the Panthers. Mohler had three points and two assists for the Blues, and Turner posted three assists.
Gilbert expects his team to benefit from squaring off against a high-quality opponent, especially right before Pioneer District action begins.
“It was a good test for us early,” he said. “I think we can build on that. We can learn some good lessons from this thing, and hopefully move forward and get ready for district play.”
PM will kick off Pioneer action tonight, Wednesday, at Narrows, and will continue district action at Eastern Montgomery on Friday. Both nights will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m.
