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The Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team earned a 39-35 overtime win at home over local rival Rockbridge County, completing a sweep of the season series on Saturday evening in Buena Vista.
It was the sixth consecutive win for the Fighting Blues (11-3) and the eighth consecutive loss for the Wildcats (1-14). In their previous meeting this season on Dec. 27 at RC, the Blues led the entire game and won 48-31.
On Saturday, PM started the game by taking an 8-7 lead, fueled by 3-pointers from Victoria Hamilton and Tatyana Turner. At the end of the first quarter, Ruby Goodhart made a layup to give the Wildcats a 9-8 lead.
Rockbridge outscored PM 12-8 in the second quarter. The Wildcats shared the ball frequently in the quarter, getting a 3-pointer from Abby Bouchard and baskets from Goodhart, Des Butler, and Bella Dorey. With RC leading 19-11, Addisen Roberts made a free throw for the Blues.
In the closing minute of the first half, Victoria Hamilton cut RC’s lead to 19-15 by making a 3-pointer from the top of the paint for the final basket of the first half. “We were hoping that they would let us run a bit more and get out in transition,” said RC head coach Darrel Plogger. “We were able to score a few points in those situations.”
Goodhart scored for the Wildcats to start the second half, and teammate Emma Clark, who led the Wildcats with 10 points, then hit a 3-pointer.
Payton Emore made two free throws for the Blues to cut RC’s lead to 26-18, and Clark made her second free throw of the night. Turner then scored for PM to cut the lead to 29-21. Before the quarter ended, Hamilton made a layup, and the teams went into the final quarter with the Wildcats leading 29-23.
The final frame was tightly contested. With RC leading 34-26, PM’s Natalie Mohler made a 3-pointer, and Turner then hit a triple to cut RC’s lead to 34-32. Hamilton made a layup to tie the game 34-34 before the end of regulation, forcing an overtime period.
In overtime, Hamilton scored for the Blues early to give her team a 36-34 lead. Clark made a free throw to cut the lead to 36-35, but Peira Conner and Roberts closed out overtime for the Blues by making free throws to seal the win.
Hamilton led all scorers with 12 points, sinking two 3-pointers, and pulled down six rebounds. Turner added nine points on three 3-pointers and grabbed four rebounds. Mohler scored seven points, with two triples, and had six rebounds, two steals and one block. Emore had five points, six boards and three assists, and Roberts added three points, four boards and four steals.
Clark led the Wildcats with 10 points, while Goodhart had seven points, a team-high 11 rebounds, one steal and one block. Bouchard added six points, five boards, four assists and a steal. Also stepping up for RC was Sadie Moore with five points, 13 rebounds and two blocks.
RC committed 17 turnovers, while PM had 11.
Reviewing the game, PM head coach Adam Gilbert said that he expected his team to be in a hotly contested match up against Rockbridge. “Whenever you play Rockbridge, you know, or anybody, we expect it to be a two-possession game,” he said. “That’s what we want, especially in the last four minutes.”
“We just keep finding ways to win,” added Gilbert. “Hats off to our kids.”
Gilbert commended the play of his team’s rival. “I thought they were prepared and they came ready to play. They executed their game plan against us better than what they did in our last game. Hats off to their kids, I think they played an amazing game.”
On the other side, Plogger said the Wildcats changed their game plan, making adjustments after the December loss to the Blues. “We went more zone this time around,” said Plogger, “I think that gave them trouble early on and allowed us to rebound better.”
Plogger praised his team for their improvement, saying they have “gotten better every day since the first day. Every girl has gotten better, and the team has gotten better in all of [our] concepts. Our improvement has been tremendous.”
