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With a complete team effort, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team earned a 50-43 home win over Waynesboro on Wednesday night in Lexington in the first game in the RC gym this season since the bleachers were renovated and painted blue. It was the first home win of the season for the Wildcats (2-4).
When the teams met previously on Dec. 6 in Waynesboro, the Wildcats won 64-62 in double overtime.
In the rematch, the Wildcats were missing 6-foot-3-inch sophomore starting center Ruby Goodhart, out with an injured calf, but senior guard Emma Clark and junior guard Abby Bouchard came through with big performances. Clark led all players with 19 points, sinking five 3-pointers, while Bouchard scored 13 points, making 5-of-6 free throw attempts, pulled down nine rebounds and dished out eight assists.
Fueled by shots from Clark and Bouchard, the Wildcats jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game. The Lady Giants (1-6) then picked up their offense and shut down the Wildcats for a few minutes, cutting the lead to 15-9 by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, a 3-pointer from Waynesboro’s Aaliyah Diggs cut RC’s lead to 16-14, but the Wildcats responded with a pair of baskets, and free throws from Bouchard put RC up 20-14. At halftime, after a 3-pointer from Clark, RC led 23-17.
In the third quarter, the Wildcats built up a 10-point lead, but the Lady Giants cut it to 36-30 at the end of the quarter.
Making free throws in the fourth quarter, Waynesboro cut the lead to 40-39, but the Wildcats got a basket from Lola Mulitalo and then a three-point play from Bouchard to go up 44-39 with 2:32 left. Bouchard helped put the game away by hitting a pair of free throws on her next trip to the line, and Clark sealed the win with another 3-pointer.
Other RC leaders were Bella Dorey with six points, Mulitalo with five points and 10 rebounds, and Natalie Samante with five points.
Diggs and Shyla Williams led Waynesboro with nine points each, while Shavea Torian added eight points, and Casadee Goodwin chipped in five.
The Wildcats did a good job taking care of the ball, committing 13 turnovers, while Waynesboro had 20.
RC hit six 3-pointers, while Waynesboro made two. The Wildcats shot 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from the free throw line, while Waynesboro shot 65 percent (13-of-20).
The Wildcats will continue nondistrict action when they play host to Staunton on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 6 p.m.
For the full story on Wednesday’s game and RC’s 67-33 road loss to Broadway on Tuesday, with photos from Wednesday’s game, please see our Dec. 24 newspaper. Due to our early Christmas deadline, the stories on Friday’s and next week’s games will be in our Dec. 31 newspaper.
