Jeff Moeller, sports correspondent
Heading into the season with the loss of three senior starters, Richmond Hill head coach Sarah Jones knew it would likely be a different year ahead.
And it has been an inconsistent ride for the Lady Wildcats, who will enter their final regular-season game Tuesday at Lowndes with an overall 10-14 record and a 0-9 region slate. It has been a different run than their 19-8 mark and third-place in the Class 6A region last season.
Jones likes her team’s resiliency, but she says they haven’t been able to close out games on a regular basis.
“The season has been a bit of a roller coaster, “ said Jones. “We play in one of the toughest regions and have competed, [but] just haven’t gotten over the hump of winning the close games. There’s been some adversity throughout the season, but our girls still come out each day and work hard to get better.”
In a recent 41-35 home loss to Tift, Jones saw a chance slip away, but she was impressed with her team’s overall play.
“We lost to Tift by six and had opportunities if we could have just capitalized on those we would have won,” said Jones. “I will say it was one of our better games and probably our most physical game we’ve played all season, which is one of the things we’ve been preaching because we play in an extremely physical region.”
Senior Cullen McCormick is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 9.9 points and also has grabbed a team-high 9.1 rebounds. Sophomore Bristol Machgan is averaging 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds, and senior Faith Evans is averaging 5.1 points. Sophomore Mackenzie Smith is averaging 3.2 rebounds.
Evans missed eight games and Machgan missed three due to injuries. Juniors Elyza Shuman and Ralena Headley also have been regular contributors.
Still, Jones is optimistic about her team’s chances in the upcoming postseason. The Lady Wildcats pieced together a modest three-game winning streak, and they were saddled with a seven-game losing streak this year.
As the sixth seed in the region, Richmond Hill will likely meet Valdosta or Camden County in the opening round of the playoffs. Valdosta and Camden County are currently tied for the third seed, but Valdosta holds the tie-breaker.
“It’s definitely been a transition year because of the three seniors we lost last year,” said Jones. “ We had a bunch of girls returning, but they didn’t have a lot of court experience at the varsity level.
“They have truly worked hard all season, and we can see the growth. So we are going to continue to compete and go into the play-in game with the must win mentality. We’ve been pretty close all season, so we’re just going to put it all together to be playing our best ball going into that game.”