Richmond Hill took on visitors Camden County in a “Battle of the Wildcats” match-up, but the final tally was a 50-43 loss for the home team.
“We did not do a good job of playing our game tonight,” head girls’ basketball coach Sarah Jones said. “We just did not play the game the way that we usually play it.”
That seemed evident from the opening tip off. While Richmond Hill won the tip, Camden County quickly stole it away and made a three point shot. Richmond Hill would turn the ball over on its first three consecutive possessions, before finally putting points on the board, via a three point shot of their own, from Emari Brown.
After those first few possessions of struggles, Richmond Hill seemed to settle in a bit, though the score remained close, they held onto a 13-11 lead at the end of the first period.
As they went into the second period, the narrative began to change a bit, as Camden County would put on a clinic on both ends of the floor, outscoring Richmond Hill 16-4 in the second, and they took a secure 27-17 lead into the break.
After the halftime break ended, Richmond Hill came out and played a much better period, both offensively and defensively. While Camden County still ‘won’ the period in points scored by an 11-10 margin, Richmond Hill did not let the lead get out of hand and played much better on both ends of the floor. Camden County would take their lead to 38-27 in the third, as the teams headed into the final period of play.
In the fourth period, Richmond Hill began to make their comeback and it would seem as though they may have been able to close the gap enough to get in position to take the lead, but that was not the case, as their last time leading in scoring was early in the second period. Richmond Hill did outscore Camden County in the fourth period by a 16-12 margin, but it was not enough for them to mount their comeback and come away with the victory.
“This group fights until the very end,” Jones said. “That’s just them. We play good defense without fouling, you know, other than there at the end when we are trying to stay in the game. But things just did not fall our way.
“We would start to get some of the energy and favor going our way and then we would lose it again. We would make some plays and then lose control of the ball and it would just roll their way.”
While the score was not in their favor, it is worth mentioning that Richmond Hill played the entire game with only six players touching the floor, due to their lack of depth.
As Richmond Hill gets ready to host another region foe in the Tift County Lady Blue Devils on Friday night, the staff and players know how critical the next couple of days will be for them to perform well in the game and take down the number four ranked team in Region 1-6A.
“Every game is a big game,” Jones said. “We have got to have two really good practices. These practices on Wednesday and Thursday have to be really good for us. This is a really big game for us on Friday. We were in the driver’s seat, but tonight, we sort of left the door open a little bit and let Camden County in.”
The Richmond Hill High School Lady Wildcats will host their second game of the week on Friday, as the Tift County High School Lady Blue Devils will make the three hour drive up from Tifton. Tip off for that game will be at 4:30 p.m.