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The Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team suffered a 63-25 home loss to Salem in the 10th Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout on Saturday morning in Lexington.
The Wildcats (2-16), who were coming off a 60-55 road win over Harrisonburg last Wednesday, struggled against Salem’s defensive press, but Saturday’s performance was an improvement over RC’s 82-20 road loss to Salem on Dec. 29.
Early on in Saturday’s game, the Wildcats “hung around,” said RC head c oach D arrell Plogger. “ I was just t elling t he girls, I hope they can see how much better we’ve gotten. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve definitely improved.”
The Wildcats trailed 8-5 after Emma Clark hit a 3-pointer, but RC didn’t score the rest of the first quarter, allowing Salem (16-1) to build a 23-5 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Spartans’ 26-0 run lasted until RC’s Ruby Goodhart made an inside shot to cut Salem’s lead to 34-7 with 3:35 left in the first half. At the end of the half, Salem led 36-14.
Salem continued to dominate in the third quarter, forcing several turnovers and outscoring RC 18-3 to take a 54-17 lead into the fourth quarter. Because the lead was 30 points or more, the teams played with a running clock for the entire fourth quarter.
For the game, RC committed 32 turnovers, while Salem had just six. Salem hit five 3-pointers, while RC made two.
Gabrielle Crawley led the Spartans with 17 points, sinking two 3-pointers, while Ruby Goodhart paced RC with seven points and grabbed five rebounds and two steals. Both players were named to the all-tournament team. Charli Wynn added eight points for Salem.
Clark and Abby Bouchard scored five points apiece for the Wildcats, each making a 3-pointer, and Bouchard dished out two assists. Bella Dorey chipped in four points, Sadie Moore scored two points and grabbed five boards, and Natalie Samante- Asunción scored two points.
