The Richmond Hill High School Lady Wildcats’ basketball team played host to the Brunswick High School Lady Pirates on Tuesday evening. While the game was one that the Lady Wildcats did not seem to have the upper hand in, they would inevitably come away with the 43-42 victory. 

Senior and reigning Region 1-7A Defensive Player of the Year Mmekom Inyang led the Lady Wildcats in scoring on the evening with 13 points, including the game-winning shot as time expired. Junior Cullen McCormick finished with ten points, while senior Jada Brown added 8 more points. Sophomore Kinora Ragland finished with five points, senior Ariyana Canady, who recently returned from injury, added 4 points and junior Emari Brown added three points on the night. 

The Lady Wildcats would win the opening tip, just as they did in the last outing, but they could not get any points from it and the ball was stolen quickly by the Lady Pirates, which was the first of many turnovers in the first period for Richmond Hill. 

“They are a really, really good team,” head girls' basketball coach Sarah Jones said. “They turned us over a lot. They are fast. They are good at what they do and that showed throughout.”

Later in the first, Inyang would go one of two on her free throws, to put the first points on the board for either team. The Lady Pirates would answer with an early three pointer, before McCormick would score the first basket of the night for Richmond Hill. The Lady Wildcats would close the first period with a 10-5 lead over the Lady Pirates. 

However, Brunswick would bust the game open in the second period, as they went on a 14-4 run and held Richmond Hill to only one made basket and two free throws in the period. That scoring outburst and tight defense would give the Lady Pirates the lead heading into the break, up 19-14. 

“Our message at the half was simple; ‘just continue to fight’,” Jones said. “We told them to give themselves a chance in the second half and to clean up the little things that needed some attention in the first half.”

In the third period, that spark that was needed to get back in the game, came in the form of Inyang. She would score six of her thirteen points in the third period, including multiple big steals that led to others getting involved in the scoring output. The Lady Wildcats would outscore the Lady Pirates 17-8 in the third period, and take back the lead, heading into the fourth up 31-27.  

“Inyang is good on both ends of the floor for us,” Jones said. “She is a great leader. She struggled some there in the first half, but she came out in the second half to make some spark plays. Those types of plays can change the entire energy and tempo of the game.”

With several lead changes, steals from both teams, points scored and timeouts called late in the game, there was no clear cut better team in the fourth period to close the game out. Either team looked like they could win and it came down to the literal last second to decide the winner. With the Lady Pirates leading the scoring for the period 15-9, all signs pointed to them winning the game. However, a turnover won by Richmond Hill led to a pass thrown up court to Brown, who would find Inyang under the rim to hit the buzzer-beater layup to give the Lady Wildcats the victory and remain undefeated on the year. 

Richmond Hill will host Hilton Head Island High School on December 6. Tip off is set for 6pm.