RC Girls Cruise Past Celtics

In the opening game of the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team cruised to a 60-26 home win over Roanoke Catholic on Friday afternoon in Lexington.

The game drew a large and energetic crowd that included students and teachers enjoying time out of class.

The Wildcats (7-8) had their largest margin of victory and their third-highest scoring total of the season. Rockbridge’s most points in a game this season came in a 64-62 double-overtime win at Waynesboro on Dec. 6. Instead of running up the score on Friday, though, Rockbridge head coach Darrell Plogger put in junior varsity players in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to get everybody in,” said Plogger. “It’s a team game, and everybody works hard.”

Led by a strong defense, fast breaks, a pair of 3-pointers from Emma Clark and a triple from Bella Dorey, the Wildcats raced to a 25-7 lead by page B5 See RC Girls ,

WILDCATS ABBY Bouchard (left), Lola Mulitalo and Des Butler (30) surround a Roanoke Catholic player. The Wildcats did a good job containing the Celtics, forcing 14 turnovers, with Bouchard and Butler each making four steals. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo) the end of the first quarter.

Roanoke Catholic (3-8) cut the lead to 31-16 m idway through the second quarter, thanks to a 3-pointer and a jump shot from Natalie Smith, but the Wildcats used their defensive press to keep the Celtics scoreless for the rest of the half. The Wildcats ended the half on a 12-0 run to take a 43-16 lead into the break.

The Wildcats kept the momentum going into the second half and led 58-20 at the end of the third quarter. The teams used a running clock in the fourth quarter due to the large lead.

Clark scored 14 points and grabbed three rebounds, hitting four 3-pointers, and was named most valuable player of the game. Ruby Goodhart also scored 14 points and led the Wildcats with eight rebounds and three blocks, and Dorey added 10 points, four assists and three rebounds. Des Butler had eight points and four steals, while Abby Bouchard chipped in six points, four boards, four assists and four steals.

Smith led the Celtics with 14 points. Brinkley and Aubrey Aaron each chipped in three points.

The Wildcats hit five 3-pointers while holding Roanoke Catholic to one. Rockbridge committed just seven turnovers and forced 14.

Pleased by his team’s offense, Plogger said, “When the ball moves for us, we’re a lot better offensively. There wasn’t a lot of dribbling. We had good patience and got to the right spots.”