.jpg)
Led by an effective defensive press and seven 3-pointers from Emma Clark, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team cruised to a 53-20 home win over new Valley District rival Rocktown on Friday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (8-10 overall, 2-7 district), coming off district losses to Harrisonburg and Broadway earlier this week, broke away from a game that was close early. RC was missing two of its leaders, Dez Butler and Bella Dorey, due to concussions suffered this week, but other Wildcats stepped up, including several members of the junior varsity team who moved up to help out the varsity team.
After the starters struggled to get going, the Wildcats’ reserves, including some JV players, gave them a spark. With RC leading 7-6 at the start of the second quarter, Clark, who scored all 21 of her game-high points on 3-pointers, hit back-to-back triples to start an 8-0 run. The Wildcats applied their defensive press, good passing, and scoring in transition on the Raptors (0-10, 0-6) to outscore them 19-4 in the second quarter. RC took a 26-10 lead into halftime, forcing 14 Rocktown turnovers in the first half.
The Wildcats carried the momentum into the third quarter, with Ruby Goodhart making a pair of baskets and Clark hitting three more 3-pointers to help them build up a 44-14 lead by the end of the quarter.
RC stayed comfortably ahead for the rest of the game, and the fourth quarter went by quickly since the teams played with a running clock because the lead was 30 points or more.
Other than Clark, RC’s leaders were Goodhart with 14 points and seven rebounds, Lola Mulitalo with six points and seven boards, and Genesis McCoy with four points.
Astrid Arebalo Guifarro led the Raptors with nine points, Nayeli Amaya Olivencia added five points, and Kalaylah Banks chipped in three.
Rocktown committed 26 turnovers, while RC had 15.
RC knocked down eight 3-pointers, while the Raptors hit two.
The Wildcats will continue district action when they play at Spotswood on Tuesday, starting with the junior varsity game at 5:30 p.m.
For the full story and photos from this week’s action, please see our Feb. 5 newspaper.
