Plagued by turnovers and cold shooting, the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team suffered a 57-34 home loss to Shenandoah District rival Riverheads on Tuesday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (8-13 overall, 6-7 district), who were coming off a 44-40 road win over Waynesboro on Monday night, were playing their third game in four days. RC committed 32 turnovers, 18 in the first half, and shot just 35 percent (14-of-40) and 1-of-12 from three-point range, while the Gladiators (11-6, 5-5) committed just 13 turnovers and shot 36 percent (23-of-50) from the field.
With the win, Riverheads completed a sweep of the season series with the Wildcats. When the teams met on Jan. 9 at Riverheads, the Gladiators eked out a 46-44 win.
The rematch was close early on, with Riverheads taking an 8-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. RC’s Genesis McCoy then tied the game with a bank shot early in the second quarter, but Kallie Poole responded with an inside shot for the Gladiators, and the Riverheads would not trail again. Capitalizing on RC turnovers, Riverheads took an 18-11 lead into halftime.
The Gladiators carried the momentum into the second half, extending their lead to double digits in the third quarter. RC’s Bella Dorey made a three-point play to cut the Riverheads lead to 33-19 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Riverheads extended its lead to more than 20 points, and both teams had mostly reserves playing the final few minutes.
Lola Mulitalo was the only double-digit scorer for the Wildcats, contributing 14 points and 11 rebounds while making three steals and blocking one shot. Dorey, who made a shot just before the final buzzer, scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, while McCoy chipped in five points. One of RC’s reserves, Kyra Strowtridge, hit a 3-pointer in the final two minutes.
Chesney Dunlap led Riverheads with 17 points, sinking two 3-pointers, while Abi Bennington scored 14 points, and Avery Glover had 13.
The Wildcats, who are battling for a spot in the Region 3C tournament with just over a week left in the regular season, will continue district action at home against Buffalo Gap on Thursday at 6 p.m.
For the full story and photos from this week’s action, please see our Feb. 18 newspaper. The story on last week’s games will be in this Wednesday’s newspaper.
