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Earning its first road win and its first district win of the season, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team defeated Valley District rival Harrisonburg 60-55 in overtime on Tuesday of last week.
With the victory in their highest-scoring game of the season, the Wildcats (1-7 district) snapped a nine-game losing streak and avenged a 51-37 Dec. 19 home loss to the Blue Streaks. RC improved to 2-15 overall, while Harrisonburg fell to 6-10 overall and 1-6 in the district.
In the rematch, the Wildcats took a 12-9 lead after the first quarter, but the Blue Streaks came back to take a 26-22 halftime lead. RC then outscored Harrisonburg 19-11 in the third quarter to go up 41-37. In the closing seconds of regulation, Harrisonburg banked a 3-pointer to force overtime. The Wildcats took control in overtime, outscoring Harrisonburg 10-5 to capture the win.
Proud of his players, RC head coach Darrell Plogger said, “It was truly a team win. They just competed – just competing every possession was better than it’s been all year. I think it’s a product of getting better.”
Despite having to sit a big chunk of the game due to foul trouble, freshman center Ruby Goodhart led the Wildcats with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Abby Bouchard added 12 points, sinking two 3-pointers, and had eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Emma Clark scored 10 points, making two 3-pointers, and grabbed three boards, while Bella Dorey added eight points, four boards, four assists and led RC with four steals. Parker Dameron chipped in six points and six rebounds, and Des Butler had three points. Plogger said it was the most balanced scoring effort of the season for the Wildcats.
Leading Harrisonburg were Terrya Shifflett with 17 points, sinking five 3-pointers. Alyse Sheffey added 15 points, and Sierra Cain contributed nine points and 13 rebounds.
Plogger said that, in addition to their improvement on offense, the Wildcats stepped up defensively to stop the Blue Streaks. “We went to playing more zone [defense],” he said. “It seems like we get more energy out of a zone, and we run better in a zone.”
The Wildcats committed 15 turnovers and shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field, 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from 3-point range and 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from the free throw line.
Prior to last Tuesday’s win, the Wildcats’ only victory this season was a 39-34 home win over Staunton, their previous highestscoring game of the season, on Dec. 18.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Spotswood last night and will continue district action at home against East Rockingham tonight, Wednesday, before playing at Turner Ashby on Friday. They’ll conclude the regular season on Tuesday when they play host to William Monroe. All nights will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m.
