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In a back-and-forth contest, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team came up short 51-46 on Thursday night at Staunton.
With the nondistrict win, the Storm (4-8) avenged a 61-53 overtime loss at RC on Dec. 20, when the Wildcats had come back from a 15-point halftime deficit. The Wildcats would end the week at 7-8 after cruising to a 60-26 home win over Roanoke Catholic in the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout on Friday afternoon. (See separate story.)
In the rematch with Staunton, the Wildcats struggled to take care of the ball, committing 32 turnovers. The Storm had just 12 turnovers.
Addressing the problem, RC head coach Darrell Plogger said, “If we keep the turnovers down, we can play with anybody, but the last few games, the turnovers got way up there, and we’re not going to compete with 30 turnovers.”
The game was tied 14-14 after the first quarter before Staunton took a 26-25 halftime lead. In the third quarter, the Storm outscored the Wildcats 14-8 to take a 40-33 lead into the fourth quarter. Staunton held off RC in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.
Sophomore center Ruby Goodhart had an incredible game for the Wildcats, leading them with 19 points, 21 rebounds and three blocks. However, she was RC’s only double-digit scorer. Abby Bouchard scored eight points and had eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks, while Emma Clark added eight points, four steals and three rebounds. Lola Mulitalo had six points, six boards and two steals, while Bella Dorey chipped in three points, three steals and two assists.
Leading Staunton was Chasyn Smith with 16 points, knocking down four 3-pointers. Hayden Terry scored nine points for the Storm, and Trioux Williams and Avian Fields each added seven points.
The Storm made eight 3-pointers, while the Wildcats had two 3-pointers from Clark.
The Wildcats, who are 1-5 in the Valley District, were scheduled to play host to Harrisonburg last night. RC’s game against district rival Broadway that was scheduled for Tuesday of last week was rescheduled for this Thursday due to extremely cold temperatures, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats will continue district action at home against Rocktown on Friday, with the varsity game only at 6 p.m., before playing at Spotswood on Tuesday, starting with the JV game at 5:30 p.m.
