Facing its toughest test yet, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team suffered a 73-23 home loss to undefeated Shenandoah District rival Stuarts Draft on Tuesday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (1-3 overall, 1-1 district), who were coming off a 42-41 road win over district rival Waynesboro on Friday, had no answer for sharpshooting Stuarts Draft (5-0, 4-0). The Cougars knocked down 14 3-pointers, seven in each half. Draft shot 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from 3-point range and 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the field.
RC struggled offensively, shooting just 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from the field and 20 percent (1-of-5), with Dez Butler making the Wildcats’ only triple.
Lolo Mulitalo hit a free throw in the opening minute to give the Wildcats their only lead of the game before Draft went on an 8-0 run, with Karlee Layne hitting two 3-pointers. The Cougars led 18-6 after the first quarter and extended their advantage to 38-13 by halftime.
In the third quarter, Draft outscored RC 17-7 to take a 55-20 lead into the final quarter. The Cougars kept their offense going in the fourth quarter, outscoring RC 18-3, with RC’s points coming on free throws by Kyra Strowbridge.
Ava Flippin led four Draft players in double figures with 21 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Other Cougar leaders were Augusta Seibert with 12 points, Ella Ott with 11, and Layne with 10.
Mulitalo paced the Wildcats with 14 points, six rebounds, five blocks and two steals. Other than Butler hitting the three, no Wildcats scored more than two points. Lexi Samente led RC with three assists and grabbed four rebounds while scoring two points. Butler and Madison Mangione each grabbed five rebounds.
The Wildcats committed 26 turnovers, while Draft had five.
RC will continue district action at home against Staunton on Thursday at 6 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Tuesday’s game, please see our Dec. 24 newspaper. The story on last week's action will be in this Wednesday's newspaper.
