In the Battle of the Lady Wildcats, the Richmond Hill Lady Wildcats prevailed over the Valdosta High School Lady Wildcats, 41-37.
While Richmond Hill was able to come away with the victory, the first period looked as though Valdosta would run away with the game as Valdosta jumped out to a quick 7-1 run that they held for much of the period. Richmond Hill would cut that lead to 7-5, but Valdosta once again extended it to 10-5 to head into the second.
“We got punched in the mouth early,” head basketball coach Sara Jones said. “It was a shock for us and we knew that we had to quickly recover if we wanted to make this any sort of game.”
While the team was unable to produce on the scoreboard offensively, Richmond Hill was able to play very good defense to keep Valdosta from pulling away early on, keeping themselves in the game.
“The defense was able to keep us in it,” Jones said. “We practice defense a lot because if the offense cannot get going, such as tonight, we have to keep ourselves in the game somehow, and that is how. It really paid off for us tonight.”
Defensively, Richmond Hill was able to hold Valdosta to only a 16-12 lead as they went into the break, outscoring them in the second 7-6 and cutting Valdosta’s lead down to only four points.
“In the first half, we were not really engaging like we should have been,” Jones said. “We had more turnovers than we should have had, and we did not finish as well as we could have on shots. We spoke about that at the half and made adjustments.”
The adjustments that were made seemed to work, as Richmond Hill looked much better out of the break. They would outscore Valdosta again in the third, as they went on a 15-10 run, and took what seemed like a 27-24 lead into the fourth period. However, a Valdosta player was fouled with .3 seconds on the clock and made both free throws, to cut the lead to 27-26 to head into the fourth period.
“They play their 3-2 really flat,” Jones said. “With that being said, it is really hard to emulate that for us in practice to learn to defend it, but we did a better job in the second half of slowing it down, which kept us in the game.”
The fourth period looked like two heavyweight fighters trading blow for blow, as both teams made shots back-to-back and the drama ensued throughout. However, Richmond Hill would again lead in scoring, 14-1, and would hang on to a four-point victory.
“We kept playing and fighting no matter what,” Jones said. “They played together. Worked hard together. We made things happen when we needed to and that allowed us to secure the win.”
The Richmond Hill Lady Wildcats (12-3, 1-0) will have another ‘Battle of the Lady Wildcats’, as they travel to Kingsland to take on Camden County (14-2) on January 9. Tip-off is scheduled for 6pm.