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The Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team started Valley District action with a pair of losses last week, falling 54-19 to Broadway at home last Tuesday before losing at East Rockingham 52-24 on Friday.
Against Broadway, after playing perhaps its best quarter of the season to end the first quarter in a 9-9 tie, the Wildcats (0-6 overall, 0-2 district) saw a close game slip away, as Broadway pulled away to deal the Wildcats a lopsided loss. The Gobblers would end the week at 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the district, following a 45-44 loss at Spotswood on Friday.
The Wildcats trailed 7-2 in the first quarter, but Abby Bouchard and Emma Clark each hit a 3-pointer, and Sadie Moore made a free throw to tie the game 9-9.
RC head coach Darrell Plogger was pleased by his team’s performance to start the game, but said they need to continue to carry that effort into the following quarters.
“That’s the best stretch we played all year,” said Plogger. “And with our young team, one thing I’ve stressed from the beginning is that we’re going to play well in stretches, but now it’s our job to extend that eight-minute stretch to the half. Eventually, we’re going to play the whole game the way we played the first quarter. We’re not quite mentally tough yet, but we’ll get there. We’re getting better.”
The Gobblers then took over, starting the second quarter on an 8-0 run and extending the lead to 25-13 at the half. Broadway capitalized on RC turnovers, and sharpshooting Wren Wheeler fueled the Gobblers’ offense, scoring 15 of her game-high 22 points in the first half. Wheeler made three of her four 3-pointers in the first half.
Broadway carried the momentum into the third quarter, continuing to score off RC turnovers and scoring 18 points before the Wildcats finally got back on the scoreboard with a free throw by Bella Dorey and a putback by Moore. At the end of the quarter, Broadway led 43-16.
With reserves playing much of the fourth quarter, the Gobblers kept extending their lead, and the Wildcats only scored on a 3-pointer from Clark.
Plogger said he expected to face a good technical opponent that would challenge his young team.
“They’re traditionally good. They’re well coached,” he said. “You make mistakes on the defensive end, and they take advantage of it right now and there.”
Clark led RC with six points and three assists, while Dorey, Moore and Bouchard each added three points, and Goodhart and Parker Dameron chipped in two points apiece. Leading RC with five rebounds each were Moore, Dameron and Goodhart. Defensively, Bouchard led RC with three blocks, Dameron had two, and Goodhart had one.
Other than Wheeler, Broadway’s leading scorers were Mady Ennis with nine points and Natalee Strawderman, Maya Bacon and Keely Spencer with six points each.
Broadway sank five 3-pointers, while RC made three. Overall, RC shot just 23.3 percent (7-of-30) from the field and 20 percent (2-of-10) from the free throw line.
The Wildcats committed 23 turnovers total, while Broadway had just six. Plogger said turnovers continue to be an area of struggle that he hopes to cut down on. Plogger said the Wildcats’ goal is to get down to 15 turnovers or less. “If we can get it to 15, we can be competitive with anybody, but we’ve got to get tough enough to improve our ballhandling skills enough to get there,” he said.
ER 52, RC 24
The Wildcats weren’t able to recover from a large deficit at East Rockingham on Friday, falling 52-24.
The Eagles (5-2, 2-0) jumped out to an 18-2 lead by the end of the first quarter before cooling off, but they used their defensive press to keep the Wildcats from threatening a comeback.
“We had trouble with the press again,” said Plogger. “Until we figure that out, we’re going to struggle. If we can get to a half-court game, we’ll be OK.”
RC held ER to just five points in the second quarter, but the Wildcats scored just two points in the period and trailed 23-4 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Wildcats picked up their offense, but ER outscored them 16-14 to take a 39-18 lead into the fourth quarter. The Eagles outscored RC 13-10 in the final quarter.
“They were really good,” said Plogger of the Eagles. “They do a good job of pressing.”
Lauren Townsend led ER with 13 points, while teammate Haley Lucas added eight points, and Maya Ramirez chipped in seven.
Sophomore guard Brooklyn Beverly paced the Wildcats with six points and had four rebounds and two assists. “She’s really improved,” said Plogger.
Dorey grabbed 11 rebounds and added five points, three assists and a steal, while Bouchard scored five points and a steal and pulled down nine boards. Goodhart led RC with 12 rebounds, four blocks and three steals, but she was 0-of-11 from the field and scored just two points on free throws.
RC committed 24 turnovers and shot just 16.7 percent (8-of-48) from the field and 20 percent (2-of-10) from the free throw line.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play home games against Staunton on Monday and against Harrisonburg last night. After Christmas, they’ll play host to rival Parry McCluer next Wednesday, Dec. 27, at 4 p.m., preceding the 5:30 p.m. boys’ varsity game between the two schools and following that junior varsity games that start with the girls’ JV game at 1 p.m.
