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With a strong defensive performance, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team earned a 40-24 road win over Parry McCluer to complete a sweep of the season series on Saturday afternoon in Buena Vista.
When the teams met eight days earlier at RC, the Wildcats (5-5) captured a 51-34 win for their first victory over the Fighting Blues (5-2) in five years.
Ruby Goodhart led the Wildcats with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Victoria Hamilton led the Fighting Blues with 11 points.
The game was close early on, with the Wildcats leading 9-7 after the first quarter.
PM tied the game 9-9 on an inside shot from Kayleigh Ramsey early in the second quarter, but those would be the Blues’ only two points of the period. The Wildcats scored just five points in the quarter, on an inside shot from Lola Mulitalo and a 3-pointer from Emma Clark, and the final three minutes of the half were scoreless, with RC taking a 14-9 lead into the break.
To start the second half, the Blues got inside baskets from Hamilton and Peira Conner to cut RC’s lead to 14-13, but the Wildcats responded with a pair of baskets to go up 18-13. At the end of the third quarter, RC led 25-21.
In the fourth quarter, Mulitalo hit a pair of free throws and scored on an offensive rebound, and Goodhart then made a pair of inside baskets to extend RC’s lead to 33-21 with 3:40 left. Hamilton hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wildcats’ lead to nine points, but those would be PM’s only points of the quarter, as the Wildcats ended the game on a 7-0 run.
Mulitalo, who sat out the Wildcats’ 54-45 Valley District road loss to Harrisonburg on Friday with a sore throat, scored six points against the Blues, Clark added five points, and Dorey and Abby Bouchard each chipped in four.
Other than Hamilton, PM’s scorers were Emory Slagle with eight points, including two 3-pointers, Ramsey with three points, and Conner with two. RC’s Natalie Samante did an excellent job of guarding Natalie Mohler, normally one of the Blues’ top scorers, who was held scoreless.
RC and PM each made three 3-pointers.
The Wildcats will return to Valley District action on Tuesday at Rocktown, with the varsity game only at 6 p.m. The Blues are scheduled to return to Pioneer District action on Monday at Eastern Montgomery, starting with the JV game at 5:30 p.m.
For the full stories on this week’s action, with photos from Saturday’s game, please see our Jan. 8 newspaper.
