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The Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team defeated a pair of nondistrict rivals last week, cruising to a 58-33 home win over Waynesboro on Thursday afternoon before earning a 45-35 road win over Riverheads on Friday night. The victories extended the Blues’ winning streak to five games.
In the game against Waynesboro, senior Anna Claytor led the Fighting Blues (8-1) by scoring a career-high 29 points and grabbing eight rebounds while making six steals and a block and dishing out four assists. Claytor scored 16 points in the first half and shot 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
With the victory, the Blues completed a sweep of the season series with the Lady Giants (17). When the teams met on Dec. 2 in Waynesboro, after getting into foul trouble, PM eked out a 31-29 win.
Reviewing the rematch, PM head coach Adam Gilbert said, “We got off to a much better start here, and our press was able to get some steals and turnovers early, which led to some easy buckets for us early. We kind of set the tone early, and then we just kind of were able to continue to play well throughout with the lead.”
For the game, the Blues forced 24 turnovers and scored 20 points off turnovers, while PM committed 17 turnovers.
PM jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 15-5 after the first quarter. With Claytor continuing to lead the way, PM extended its lead to 33-15 by halftime.
The Blues carried the momentum into the second half, extending their lead to 45-22 by the end of the third quarter. With the large advantage, PM gave its reserves some valuable playing time toward the end of the game.
Other than Claytor, PM’s leading scorers were Tatyana Turner with nine points on three 3-pointers, and Payton Emore with eight points. Emore led PM With seven assists and pulled down four rebounds.
Gilbert said the scoring was the way it’s been this season, with Claytor leading and Turner and Emore chipping in. Having Turner and Emore hit outside shots helped the Blues pull away.
Addisen Roberts and Victoria Hamilton scored four points each for PM. It was a birthday win for Roberts, and fans, including members of the PM boys basketball team, sang “Happy Birthday” to her after the game ended.
Shyla Williams led the Lady Giants with 13 points, while Morgan Sites and Jordan Smith each scored five points.
From the free throw line, the Blues shot 83.3 percent (10-of-12), while Waynesboro shot 38.9 percent (7-of-18).
Commenting on Waynesboro, Gilbert said, “They’re a young team, but I thought up there [on Dec. 2], for whatever reason, we couldn’t get going. There were a lot of fouls called up there, and here it was a better flow to the game. It was a good win for us.”
PM 45, RHS 35
The Blues defeated Riverheads 45-35 on Friday in Greenville to earn their first win at Riverheads in at least 13 years.
With the win, the Blues completed a sweep of the season series with the Gladiators (3-4). When the teams met on Dec. 9 at PM, the Blues won 49-34.
In the rematch, Gilbert said his players “did enough to win the game.”
“It was a good test for us to play on back-to-back days,” said Gilbert. “As expected, I thought we had more energy on Thursday with Waynesboro than we did Friday night on the road at Riverheads.”
The Blues jumped out to a 13-6 lead after the first quarter and led 25-14 at halftime. PM extended its lead to 33-23 by the end of the third quarter before holding on for the win.
Claytor led the Blues with 19 points, Turner added nine points on three 3-pointers, Hamilton scored seven points, and Emore chipped in six.
Taia Chandler paced the Gladiators with 11 points, while Abby Ralston scored seven points, sinking two 3-pointers, and Alexis Myrtle chipped in six points.
Gilbert said it wasn’t a strong effort offensively for the Blues. “We were very careless with the basketball and had far too many turnovers,” he said. “Normally, you would say give credit to whoever you are playing that caused you to turn the ball over, due to the pressure they applied on you that night, but if we are being honest with ourselves, many of our turnovers on Friday were self-inflicted.”
“We can use any excuse that we want as to why we turned the ball over as frequently as we did, but, as we talked about it as a group, we’ve got to get better,” he said.
Gilbert added that the Blues weren’t in sync defensively in the half-court as well as they have been. He said the Blues “had several breakdowns in transition and in the half-court that we need to fix moving forward.”
The Blues will begin the new year with when they travel on Friday to take on Pioneer District rival Eastern Montgomery, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. They’ll then play host to county rival Rockbridge County on Saturday, with the JV girls’ game at 1 p.m., followed by the JV boys’ game at 2:30 p.m., the varsity girls’ game at 4 p.m. and the varsity boys’ game at 5:30 p.m. PM will play host to nondistrict rival Nelson County on Tuesday, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m.
