.jpg)
The Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team dropped a pair of Valley District games last week, falling at home to Turner Ashby 52-12 last Wednesday and coming up short 43-28 at William Monroe on Friday.
The Wildcats, who fell to 0-6 in the district with the setbacks, ended the week on an eightgame losing streak, with an overall record of 1-14 after a 39-35 overtime loss to Parry McCluer in Buena Vista on Saturday. (See separate story.)
Against Turner Ashby, which improved to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in the district with a 44-27 win over Spotswood in a battle for the top spot in the district on Friday, the Wildcats struggled against the Knights’ defensive press.
TA got a strong performance from Kendall Conley, who scored 20 points, hitting a careerhigh six 3-pointers. The Wildcats kept the rest of the Knights to single digits.
The Knights led 20-4 after the first quarter and outscored RC 17-0 in the second quarter to extend their lead to 37-4 by halftime. After outscoring the Wildcats 12-0 in the third quarter, TA took a 49-4 lead into the final quarter. With the game decided, the Wildcats managed to outscore TA 8-3 in the fourth quarter.
Ruby Goodhart led the Wildcats with six points, while Abby Bouchard added four points, and Emma Clark chipped in two.
Lizzy Smith scored six points and had seven rebounds and two steals for TA, while Rowen Smith chipped in six points, three rebounds and two steals. Chloe Nieder added six points for the Knights. The Wildcats did hold TA’s versatile 6-foot-5-inch center, Raevin Washington, to just two points, but she didn’t start and her minutes were limited.
WM 43, RC 28
The Wildcats played a stronger overall game on Friday in a 43-28 loss to William Monroe (6-8 overall, 1-4 Valley District) in Stanardsville.
Pleased with his team’s defense in keeping the Dragons under 50 points, RC head coach Darrell Plogger said, “Defensively, I think we’re playing well enough to win.”
The Wildcats also did a better job taking care of the ball, committing just 13 turnovers, and they had one of their better games from the free throw line, shooting 83.3 percent (10-of-12). However, they shot just 20.9 percent (9-of-43) from the field and went 0-of-5 from three-point range.
Goodhart paced RC with 10 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and a block. Clark added six points and two assists, while Bella Dorey scored five points and had three steals, and Bouchard chipped in four points and five boards. Sadie Moore grabbed four boards and scored two points, and Parker Dameron pulled down five boards and scored one point.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Broadway last night and will continue district action when they play host to East Rockingham on Friday before traveling to Harrisonburg on Tuesday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. on both nights.
