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DUBLIN – Both the Lady Cougar varsity and junior varsity girl’s basketball teams earned victories over Christiansburg on Tuesday. The JV squad has now earned nine consecutive victories, while the varsity extended their streak to six straight.
The varsity Cougars (6-7, 2-0) earned their second River Ridge district victory in their first two district contests of the season. The team defeated Cave Spring on the road Wednesday, 65-33.
Pulaski propelled themselves into an early first quarter lead with a tenacious defensive attack and full court press. Kasey Holcomb would get back-to-back steals on the first two Christiansburg (2-9, 0-2) possessions, converting one of those into a score by Sydney Anderson.
After a Demon score tied the game up, Pulaski would score 18 straight before Christiansburg would score again. Anderson scored six points during the run, which saw seven different Cougar players earn scores. Pulaski led 21-7 after the first.
The Cougar run continued in the second quarter, as they scored six straight points to open the quarter. Christiansburg did manage to put up more points that they did in the first, scoring 13, but they would still trail by double digits heading into halftime, 40-20.
Both Raiven Patterson and Kasey Holcomb had six steals at halftime, as the Cougars tallied 20 steals in the first half alone. Grubb talked about his team’s early performance and their key focus in each game – intensity.
“I feel like that if we can play with intensity, then we can play with anybody that we can see,” Grubb said. “So I’ve been focusing on that with the kids because we are athletic and we are strong. Just trying to get the kids to play intensity all the time is a big thing. We talk about that a lot and our kids came out with intensity tonight. They did a really good job of being intense.”
“I was impressed with Christiansburg too. They were pretty intense too. They brought the ball down the court against us. They tried to run up and down. Even though we got a lot of steals, we had a lot of wide open lay ups. They did a good job of playing back and forth with us. That was nice to see.”
Christiansburg was able to play closer to the style of basketball that Pulaski was in the third quarter. The Blue Demons scored 10 points in the third, but the Lady Cougars still managed to outscore them by five points.
More impressive than the first three quarters of play was a great defensive performance by Pulaski in the fourth quarter. They would hold the Blue Demons to just two points in the quarter with the only score in the final minute. That enabled the Cougars to outscore Christiansburg 25-2 in the fourth quarter and 42-12 in the second half overall.
“In the fourth quarter, we weren’t pressing, but we outscored them 25-2,” Grubb said. “That was just our kids getting steals and going to the other end with it. You could tell Christiansburg was worn out and our kids had the legs to run.”
Raiven Patterson scored 17 points for Pulaski. She also had eight steals and six rebounds. Sydney Anderson scored 12 points and had four steals, while Kasey Holcomb had a near double-double with nine points and eight steals.
The Cougar’s also got key bench contributions from both Maddy Chitwood and Hannah Chaffin. Chitwood scored 12 points and Chaffin had six points, four assists, and eight steals. Grubb talked about getting such important help from his bench players.
“I thought all along that this team has several kids that can contribute,” Grubb said. “I think every player and kid on this team can contribute to a winning effort. That’s what you saw tonight. Every player played double digit minutes. Everybody scored. Everyone was part of a winning cause. I think that whether we are playing Christiansburg and winning a lopsided game or a team that is very tough and it’s a close game, I really feel like all 12 kids on the team can contribute.”
The Cougars were without Shaniqua Banks in the game, who had been a force in the paint for Pulaski this season. Banks injured her knee on Wednesday against Cave Spring and it is not determined the extent of the injury or how long she will be out.
However, the Cougars returned Brittany Lawson, who filled in the post position well and scored nine points. Despite playing without Banks, Grubb was pleased with Lawson’s comeback performance.
“We hope Shaniqua gets well soon,” Grubb said. “It’s tough not having her. She actually was our leading scorer in our last four games combined. Brittany had been out and missed some practices and a game because she was injured in practice. She came back and had a pad or brace on her elbow. It bothered her a little bit, but she kept it on. She played really well. She jumped in there and had nine points off the bench. She played some real good defense and had some rebounds for us and played with intensity. We hope Shaniqua can come back into action, but it was nice to not miss both of them at the same time. We are happy Brittany was there and did a great job.”
The Lady Cougar JV picked up their second win of the week and ninth on the season with a 59-12 thrashing of the Christiansburg JV.
It was a 19-0 start for the Cougars (9-2) in their game against the Demons. Pulaski’s offense was kick started by Lauren Foster, who had six points in the opening quarter. Savannah Jones added five points.
Christiansburg clamped down early to stop the Cougar offense in the second, but Pulaski still managed to score their fair share of points. They would add 15 points in the second quarter to their 19 from the first, taking a 34-5 lead into the halftime break.
The second half would be more Cougar offense and defense. The offense wouldn’t equal their score, but would manage to tally 25 points in the second half and held Christiansburg to just seven points. That enabled them to pick up yet another win on the young season.
Lauren Foster led the Cougars with 10 points. Jordan Chrisley, Carli Brewer, and Savannah Jones all had eight points in a game where every Pulaski player scored.
Grubb reflected on both the JV’s and varsity’s winning streaks and the confidence that his players have been building with their success.
“I’ve said all along that our confidence was never down and we never got frustrated,” Grubb said. “We always knew we were a good team. We played some very tough competition early on. You look at William Fleming, Carroll County, Oakton, Radford, and some of those teams we played were really good. We were riddled with injuries basically all season. We are a little bit better know, but we have very few kids who haven’t miss a game.”
“Our confidence is still there, but our morale is up a whole lot. Our kids are more excited. Even if you play well and lose, it’s still tough, but if you get the win, the kids feel better about themselves and you can smile leaving the gym. Today, we are giving them an extra day off. This win will last them the whole weekend, so they think positive thoughts about the way they played and their teammates played. They are excited to get in here for practice on Monday. Winning is great and cures a lot of things.”
Both squads will be in action again at home when they host the George Wythe. Pulaski earned a sweep over the Maroons on Dec. 23, as the varsity won 81-46 and the junior varsity won 45-25. The action begins at 6 p.m. with the JV game with the varsity contest to follow.
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