In a game that came down to the wire, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team earned a 41-39 road win over Shenandoah District rival Staunton on Thursday night. Two days earlier, the Wildcats captured a 40-33 district road win over Alleghany.
At Staunton (7-7 overall, 5-4 district), a team the Wildcats (7-8, 5-4) had beaten 42-39 on Dec. 18 in Lexington, the Wildcats were up by one point with three seconds to go. RC’s Bella Dorey just needed to inbound the ball and “made a great play on the baseline to get it in,” said RC head coach Darrell Plogger. Dorey got the ball to Lola Mulitalo, who was fouled with three tenths of a second on the clock.
Mulitalo made the first free throw and followed Plogger’s instruction to miss the second one intentionally, and the clock expired. It was the third consecutive win for the Wildcats.
Plogger said the contest was “as good a game as we’ve played.”
RC’s coach credited assistant coach Tyler Falls for making the suggestion to go to three of their biggest players, with Mulitalo, Madison Mangione and Ellie McKnight all playing at the same time. “That probably turned the game for us,” said Plogger.
The Storm jumped out to an 18-11 lead after the first quarter, but the Wildcats cut it to 23-22 by halftime. RC then outscored Staunton 11-4 in the third quarter to go up 33-27. Staunton played hard to come back, but the Wildcats were able to hold on.
Mulitalo led the Wildcats with 17 points and 18 rebounds, while Mangione scored six points and pulled down 12 boards, and McKnight had five points and five rebounds. Also stepping up for RC was Natalie Samante, scoring nine points, including two 3-pointers, and dishing out three assists. Genesis McCoy chipped in four points and had three assists and three steals.
Trioux Williams led Staunton with 16 points, while Kerein Scott and Chasyn Smith each scored seven.
RC committed 27 turnovers, while Staunton had 10.
RC 40, AHS 33
Against Alleghany, the Wildcats made key free throws down the stretch to earn a 40-33 win on Tuesday of last week in Covington.
The Wildcats shot 68.8 percent (22-of-32) from the free throw line.
With the loss, Alleghany fell to 1-13 overall and 0-7 in the district.
Mulitalo led the Wildcats, scoring 19 points and grabbing 16 rebounds and nine steals while dishing out two assists and blocking three shots. McCoy scored nine points and had four boards and four steals, Mangione contributed four points and seven rebounds. Dez Butler stepped up defensively with three steals.
The Wildcats led 13-4 after the first quarter. After RC took a 21-13 lead into halftime, the Cougars cut the lead to 28-27 by the end of the third quarter. The Wildcats finished strong, outscoring Alleghany 12-6 in the fourth quarter.
RC overcame 30 turnovers, while Alleghany had 29 turnovers. The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to local rival Parry McCluer for the third time this season in the Rock the Ribbon Roundball Shootout on Friday night. RC was slated to play host to district rival Waynesboro last night before continuing district action at Stuarts Draft on Thursday and playing host to district rival Buffalo Gap on Tuesday. Both games are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. For game updates and weather-related schedule changes, visit www.thenews-gazette.com.
