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Bouchard Hits Game Winner At Buzzer
In its most exciting game in recent memory, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team made clutch plays to earn a 64-62 road win in double overtime over Waynesboro on Friday night.
With the nondistrict win, the Wildcats (1-1) bounced back from a 59-44 home loss to Stuarts Draft in its season opener last Wednesday in Lexington.
After receiving a pass from Bella Dorey, RC’s Abby Bouchard used a screen by Claire Taylor to hit a layup at the buzzer to lift the Wildcats to victory.
Bouchard led RC with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while teammate Emma Clark scored 15 points, making back-toback 3-pointers to force the first overtime. RC’s Des Butler hit a 3-pointer to force the second overtime. Butler and Dorey each scored eight points, and Dorey led the Wildcats with five steals.
Praising Bouchard, a junior guard, Plogger said, “That was as gritty a performance of a player as I’ve ever seen.”
“It took everybody on our roster to get that done,” he continued, noting that Ruby Goodhart, RC’s 6-foot-3-inch starting center, got in foul trouble early and eventually fouled out. “Everybody on our bench came in and gave us great minutes.”
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for the Wildcats, who hadn’t tasted victory since a 60-55 road win over Harrisonburg on Jan. 23 during the Wildcat’s 2-20 season last winter. The Wildcats started 0-6 last year before earning their first win.
Plogger, who coached the RC boys for 10 years in the 2010s before becoming the RC girls’ head coach last year, said Friday’s game was “as exciting of a game as I’ve probably ever been a part of, as far as lead changes and overtimes.”
The RC girls started well, taking a 10-3 lead by the end of the first quarter. Waynesboro (0-3) cut the lead to 19-15 by halftime and tied the game 34-34 by the end of the third quarter.
Neither team could break away in the fourth quarter before Clark hit her big shots from outside to send the game into overtime.
The Wildcats struggled to stop Waynesboro’s Aaliyah Diggs for much of the night. She led all players with 24 points, making four 3-pointers, but Natalie Samante guarded her well later in the game. Also stepping up for Waynesboro were Shavea Torian with 15 points, sinking two 3-pointers, and Shamari Clark with 12 points, hitting two triples. Shyla Williams chipped in eight points for the Lady Giants.
The Lady Giants shot well from beyond the arc, making nine 3-pointers, while the Wildcats shot 30.8 percent (4of-13), with Clark and Butler each making two 3-pointers.
Both teams struggled from the free throw line, with the Wildcats shooting just 21.1 percent (4-of-31) and Waynesboro shooting 48.4 percent (15-of-31). In addition to improving their free throw shooting, the Wildcats will need to work on taking care of the ball, as they had 24 turnovers.
Goodhart led RC with four rebounds to go along with six points, and Samante had six points and three assists.
SD 59, RC 44
The Wildcats opened the season with a 59-44 home loss to Stuarts Draft last Wednesday in Lexington.
Playing at Maury River Middle School due to work being done on the bleachers at the high school, the Wildcats kept the nondistrict game close early, trailing 7-6 before the Cougars (3-0) went on a 7-0 run to take a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Draft built up a double-digit lead in the second quarter, capitalizing on turnovers by the Wildcats, and the Cougars led 29-19 at halftime. Leading Draft was sharpshooting guard Augusta Seibert, who scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the first half, hitting all three of her 3-pointers in the first quarter.
In the second half, with Samante guarding Seibert closely, the Wildcats held Seibert to five points. Plogger said Samante “did a good job just chasing her.”
RC cut the lead to six on an inside basket by Goodhart in the third quarter, but Draft responded by going on a 12-0 run to extend its lead to 47-29. At the end of the quarter, the Cougars led 52-32, and they stayed comfortably ahead throughout the fourth quarter.
Bouchard led the Wildcats with 15 points and had six rebounds and two assists. “Abby needs to stay aggressive for us, and she did tonight,” said Plogger. “She missed some easy ones early, but she just kept battling, and she’s going to get those because she’s just gotten so much better.”
Goodhart added 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds, Clark scored six points on a pair of 3-pointers, and Samante chipped in five points and had two steals. Dorey led RC with nine rebounds and had three points, three assists and two steals.
Other than Seibert, Draft’s leading scorers were Madyson Mason with 11 points, Ava Flippin with nine, and Tokota Moore and Karlee Layne with six each.
Draft knocked down eight 3-pointers, while RC made five.
The Cougars shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from the free throw line, while the Wildcats shot 50 percent (5-of-10). RC committed 22 turnovers, while Draft had six.
Reviewing the game, Plogger said, “We had some early jitters, dug us a hole, and we just couldn’t get out of it, but I was proud of how we fought. I thought we played hard the whole game, never took possessions off. We’re gonna be just fine. We’ve got to cut turnovers down a little bit, and some of them were not forced by [the Cougars], and that’s what killed us. There were a bunch where we just kind of gave it away.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Valley District rival East Rockingham on Monday and will have a rematch at Stuarts Draft on Thursday, starting with junior varsity action at 6 p.m. They’ll travel to face district rival Broadway on Tuesday before playing host to Waynesboro next Wednesday, Dec. 18, at MRMS, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m. on both nights.
