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RADFORD – The Pulaski-Radford rivalry was renewed again on Wednesday, but this time it was on the court in girl’s basketball. Despite trailing by double digits from the second quarter through the second half, the Lady Cougars basketball team rallied to close to within two points. However, the Bobcats would seal the game with some late free throws, winning 43-37.
“It is always a battle when we play Pulaski,” said Radford coach Kevin Conner. “They are very athletic and very big. Their big girls gave us problems all night. Their guard play is very strong. I thought our girls did a good job of stepping up to the challenge.”
“Our kids played well.” said Pulaski coach Jason Grubb. “We came up short. We were down by two, had a great look at a lay up, a great look at a three pointer as well, and we couldn’t connect. We executed well and that made me feel best about the late part of the game is that we put ourselves back in position to win it. We drew things up on the sideline and our kids were able to execute them. That tells me down the road they are going to be ready.”
The two teams played evenly in the first quarter and traded baskets several times. Daisy Ball was a bright spot for Pulaski (0-5), as she scored two lay ups and assisted in a Shaniqua Bank’s score.
Pulaski would go up 5-2 early on before Hannah Kait Facemire would score two consecutive three pointers, giving the Bobcats (3-0) their first lead of the game. The Cougars would catch up though and tied the game at 8-8 after a Ball basket.
Just before the end of the quarter though, Radford’s Maryah Synder would hit a three pointer, giving the Bobcats the three point lead after one quarter, 11-8.
The second quarter would be the breakout one for Radford, as the Cougars would get into foul trouble for the second consecutive game. Kasey Holcomb and Daisy Ball would both pick up their second fouls early in the quarter with the score 11-10. That forced Coach Jason Grubb to make some adjustments in the defense.
“We sat Daisy and Kasey during important times in the game,” Grubb said “We would have rather had them out there in those situations, but there was a definite lull in our scoring. When those kids are on the bench, we aren’t as good at scoring. We would have liked to had them out there more. That is something we’ve got to work on too is playing tough defense without fouling.”
That change would lead to a big end of the quarter from the Bobcats. They would score 11 of the quarter’s next 13 points. Synder would hit her second straight three-pointer at the buzzer, as the Bobcats would take a 22-12 lead into halftime.
“Over the last two years, she [Synder] has had the tendency to do that for us,” said Bobcats coach Kevin Conner. “She has a knack for knowing when the clock is and the girls want to get her the ball in that kind of situation. As big as she is, a lot of teams like to retreat to the paint on her. When she takes the time, gets her feet set, and she is aware of the clock, she can nail those shots. Those were huge, huge shots for us. You have to figure if she doesn’t make those, we might not win the basketball game. That is six points right there.”
Coming out of halftime, Sydney Anderson, Daisy Ball, and Kelli Duncan would all try to rally the Cougars in the third quarter, as all three scored early in the quarter. That brought the lead to just eight points, but Radford would break out at the end of the quarter with some free throws, as they extended their lead by three more, 32-19.
It seemed as if a Radford win was easily in the books, but an amazing run by the Lady Cougars would spark them to a comeback effort. After being down 37-22, Pulaski would score 11 straight points and pull to within 37-33. Maddie Chitwood came off the bench for four of those points, while Kasey Holcomb scored five points in the run and assisted on one of Chitwood’s baskets.
“Maddie is a fun loving kid and when it comes to basketball, she has ice water in her veins,” Grubb said. “It doesn’t matter what the situation is or what the score is, I know that if I ask her to shoot it, she will shoot it. She just likes playing hard. She is a great part of the team.”
The two teams would battle for baskets back and forth, as the game reached an extremely fast pace. With the score 39-33, Holcomb would drive deep and score a lay up for Pulaski and Grubb took a timeout.
On the next in-bounds, the Cougars would get a steal and Ball would end up in the post for a lay up, which brought score to 39-37. With under a minute to go, the Cougars fouled and sent Facemire to the free throw line. She would miss the first free throw on a one-and-one and the Cougars corralled the rebound.
Pulaski would have the chance to tie, but they would fail, as another lay up attempt from Ball would be off the mark. Synder would go to the line and sink both of her attempts, opening the Radford lead to 41-37. In the game, the Bobcats were 11-for-16 on free throw attempts.
“To be honest, we don’t work on free throws much in practice,” Conner said. “We work on shooting, as far getting our form and everything, but we don’t work on free throwing shooting itself. A lot of that was a lot of poise our kids had. Stepping up, just relaxing, taking their time, and being poised. It kind of surprised me a little bit because we don’t work on it. We haven’t been in these kind of situations this year. I was pleased with that.”
Another attempt to score by Pulaski would fail and would once again send Radford to the free throw line. Elizabeth Carter would make both of her attempts and seal the Bobcats win, 43-37.
Maryah Synder led the Bobcats with game-high 20 points in the game. Pip Pattison added nine points and Facemire had six points. For Pulaski, Daisy Ball scored 11 points. Holcomb scored eight and Chitwood had seven points, all of them in the fourth quarter.
Despite losing the varsity contest, the Cougars junior varsity squad had a very impressive showing in their match up with Radford. In the first quarter, the Cougars would dominate, scoring 14 points and didn’t allow a single Bobcat point.
The team would start off on a 20-0 run to begin the game, which set the tone early. Radford’s Alexis Finley would get her team on the board following that run, as she scored on a lay up and was fouled in the early part of the second quarter.
The massive lead put up by Pulaski would hold all the way through the first half, as they took a 24-4 lead into halftime.
Pulaski saw the same dominant performance from their JV team in the second half as they did the first. They would score 10 points in the third, while their stingy defense only allowed two points in the quarter.
That huge lead made the big difference, as a young Bobcats squad failed to catch up and fell, 39-11.
“When we were doing our warm ups, my kids were playing absolutely horrible,” said JV coach Tiffany Payne. “I went in and had my talk with them, they came back out, and showed up to be the team that I know they could be. They played with heart tonight. They played as a team. They did everything that I asked them to do and they won the game because they played together and they worked hard.”
Jordan Chrisley led the Cougars with 10 points. Carli Brewer, Sara Wright, and Tori Duncan all had six points. 8 of the 11 players for the Cougars JV squad scored in the game. For Radford, Alexis Finley finished with 6 points.
Pulaski will return to action on Monday, when they take on Carroll County on the road. After playing three home games to start the season, Radford now will play a grueling eight straight games on the road, starting with Christiansburg on Monday.
(12-10-09)
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