A season of growth and improvement came to a close for the Rockbridge County High School girls basketball team with a 65-30 road loss to East Rockingham in the first round of the Region 3C tournament on Friday night in Elkton.
Making back-to-back Region 3C tournament appearances for the first time in program history, the 11th-seeded Wildcats (9-16) ran into a buzz saw in sixth-seeded East Rockingham (17-5), which knocked down a pair of early 3-pointers and forced seven turnovers to race to an 11-0 lead just over two minutes into the game.
Lola Mulitalo, who led RC with 14 points, scored RC’s first basket to make it 11-2 just before the midway point in the first quarter, but the Eagles went on another 11-0 run to stretch their lead to 22-2 by the end of the quarter.
The Wildcats picked up their offense a bit in the second quarter, but ER answered back and took a 33-9 lead into halftime.
The Eagles stretched their lead to 52-20 by the end of the third quarter, continuing to force turnovers and make shots.
In the fourth quarter, Mulitalo and teammates Dez Butler and Natalie Samante each hit a 3-pointer to put smiles on their faces.
Sydney Short led the Eagles with 19 points, while Sierra Cain scored 10 points, Izzy Knorr added nine points, and Eva Boone chipped in seven.
Other than Mulitalo, RC’s top scorers were Samante with six points on two 3-pointers and Butler with five points.
ER hit five 3-pointers, while RC made four.
The Wildcats committed 25 turnovers, while the Eagles, a Valley District team, had 12.
The Eagles advanced to the Region 3C quarterfinals, where they will play at third-seeded Western Albemarle (16-3) on Monday at 7 p.m.
In their first season in the Shenandoah District, after seven years in the Valley District, the Wildcats went 7-9 in district action.
The Wildcats will graduate four seniors: Mulitalo, Samante, Bella Dorey and Brooklyn Beverly.
RC’s record was just shy of last year’s record, when the Wildcats went 11-13 and ended their season with a 48-45 loss at Alleghany in the first round of the Region 3C tournament.
