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DUBLIN – For the second time in just over a week and a half, both Radford and Pulaski High Schools met on the court in girl’s basketball and for the second time, the Bobcats were victorious over the Cougars, handing Pulaski a tough 46-34 home loss on Monday.
The opening moments saw the Bobcats (7-0) jump out to a 6-0 lead. However, both Cecelia Scott and Maryah Syndor would pick up early fouls. Things would go from bad to worse for Radford in the foul situation, as in just a span of 2:11, the Bobcats would pick up five fouls and put Pulaski (0-7) in the bonus with 3:10 remaining in the quarter.
“It worried me,” said Radford coach Kevin Conner. “Basically, we were committing a lot of lazy fouls. We were doing a lot of reaching and stuff like that. I told them that they had to start playing solid. Going to that 2-3 zone really changed things for us. We got out of the man-to-man and played in the 2-3. That helped the foul situation.”
While that zone change did help Radford, something even more impressive sparked the Bobcats. Guard Pip Pattison would drive on back-to-back possessions for fouls on Kasey Holcomb. Pattison would make all four of her free throw shots and take Holcomb out of the game with foul trouble.
“Pip is a warrior,” Conner said. “She plays hard and all out. We moved her to the point guard spot because she does a good job of attacking the basket like that. She opens things up for us and helps open our post players to come in for offensive rebounds too.”
The loss of Holcomb’s ball handling ability and leadership was felt for the Cougars. Pulaski committed turnover after turnover, while Radford continued to flourish, guiding them to the early 15-6 lead after one quarter.
Radford continued to build on that lead in the second quarter. After Holcomb returned in the game to score an opening quarter basket for Pulaski, Radford would score six of the next eight points to give them a 21-10 lead. Pattison, Syndor, and Rachel Wright all scored in the run.
Syndor would increase the Bobcats lead towards the end of the quarter, after back-to-back lay ups on two straight possessions. Pulaski would finish strong with two baskets of their own, as both Holcomb and Shaniqua Banks made jump shots before the halftime buzzer sounded.
Just trailing by eleven points at halftime, 28-17, the Cougars fought early in the third quarter. Daisy Ball would score on the quarter’s first basket, cutting the lead down to nine points.
However, Radford would score seven straight points to follow, as Pattison, Wright, and Elizabeth Carter all contributed towards the run. That scoring powered the Bobcats in the quarter, as they would extend that eleven point lead into an 18 point lead.
Determined to come back for the second time against Radford this season, the Lady Cougars set out on a mission in the fourth quarter. Just earlier this season against the Bobcats, Pulaski had come back from double digits to pull within two points before losing. Conner remembered the moment all too well.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go again’,” Conner said. “We addressed it to them at the end of the third. We were up 17 or so. That was one thing we addressed. We had a 15 point lead over there with five minutes to go and they came back and about beat us. I emphasized the fact that we’ve got to make sure this doesn’t happen again. They got on a roll and I took a timeout to calm them down. I thought we played too ‘helter skelter’ offensively there for a stretch and took some bad shots, but all in all, I thought they kept their poise very well.”
Pulaski would score seven of the first nine points in the quarter, taking an insurmountable 41-23 lead down to a manageable 43-31 margin. They would also play very strong defensively, as the Cougars would hold Radford to just five points in the fourth quarter.
However, poor shooting by the Cougars enabled Radford to stay ahead the entire ball game and take the 46-34 victory. Pulaski finished the game shooting 24% from the field and also failed to connect on their free throws, as they only hit 5-of-17 chances. Radford was 13-of-18 on their free throws.
“When you break it down, they got 37 shot attempts and we had 58,” said Cougars coach Jason Grubb. “So we shot the ball 21 more times that they did, but our shooting percentage was such that we didn’t score enough points. I think there were times in the game when it was very, very evident that our kids were quicker, more physical, and more aggressive. We would get steals and couldn’t connect on the other end and be sloppy out there. I think a couple of times we were on the cusp of kind of blowing it open and storming back with a big comeback, but we could never get to that point.”
Kasey Holcomb led the Cougars in defeat with nine points and Daisy Ball chipped in seven points. Syndor finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds for Radford and her teammate Pattison had 12 points for Radford.
“She [Syndor] is a good player,” Grubb said. “She can take you off the dribble, she can shoot the three, and post you up. She is kind of their answer for most things. Pattison is a good player too. She is just a hustler. She just hustles and does things for them. Syndor is really the key to their team. She is just very versatile. I knew they would do some inside out stuff with her. It is just disappointing because they scored 46 points and 32 were from those two.”
In the junior varsity game, the Lady Cougars took a 34-11 lead into the halftime break and were able to extend it into the second half with a big fourth quarter. That enabled the Pulaski JV squad to pick up their second win of the season over Radford, 54-20.
Radford would outscore Pulaski 4-3 in the third quarter however, as they desperately attempted to pull back into the game. The Lady Cougars would outscore the Bobcats in the fourth quarter, 17-5. That extra push made sure that Radford wouldn’t get back into the game, as Pulaski took the game.
Lauren Foster led the Cougars with 14 points in the game, while teammates Samantha Chaffin and Carli Brewer both scored eight points for Pulaski. On the Radford side, Rity Harvey had eight points and Megan Mitchell scored 6.
The Bobcats will have a week off before their next contest, as travel on the road to take on Liberty. That game is schedule for 3:45 p.m. Pulaski next plays on Wednesday, when they travel to George Wythe to take on the Maroons. The JV game is scheduled for 6 p.m. with varsity action to follow.
“We’ve seen George Wythe play,” Grubb said. “Coach Wirt and I went and scouted them out. They do some things really well and they’ve got some talented players. I think there are some ways that we’ve decided how we are going to attack them. We probably have an advantage over them. They’ve had a great program the past several year, but they lost their lead player from last year. We look forward to the road trip and hopefully getting into the win column there maybe.”
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