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 sixthseeded 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 and 12 rebounds while grabbing one steal, 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 to take 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. RC head coach Darrell Plogger said afterward that the 3-pointer from Mulitalo, the Wildcats’ leading scorer and rebounder this season, was “the perfect way for our season to end.”
Other than Mulitalo, RC’s top scorers were Samante with six points on two 3-pointers and Butler with five points. Geneis McCoy pulled down four rebounds, and Ellie McKnight grabbed four boards and two steals.
In their first season in the Shenandoah District, after seven years in the Valley District, the Wildcats went 7-9 in district action.
