In their first game of the new year, the Richmond Hill High School Lady Wildcats participated in a ‘Battle of the Wildcats’ as they played host to Valdosta High School on Friday night. Richmond Hill would prevail over the visiting Wildcats, winning the region match-up 52-33.
“With this first region win, hopefully, we are on the up and up,” head girls’ basketball coach Sarah Jones said. “We do have some things to clean up. Turnovers are one of them. We have to clean up our transition defense as well. However, our half-court defense was good tonight.”
Senior Jada Brown led the scoring output with 16 points on the evening, and senior Mmekom Inyang put up 13 points of her own as well. The junior duo of Cullen McCormick and Emari Brown added 8 points each, while sophomore Kimora Ragland finished with 7 points, including a three pointer.
“We had a great week of practice this week and that helped us to secure the win,” Jones said. “We lost two games over the break, but we had a good practice and we played a great team game today. We had great energy and effort tonight.”
Inyang quickly opened the scoring for Richmond Hill, with just 15 seconds off the clock in the first period, adding a layup at the 7:45 mark. However, it was four minutes before either team put up points, when J. Brown found E. Brown for an easy layup with 3:45 to go in the first.
Richmond Hill would go on to dominate the period and it looked as though they would hold Valdosta scoreless, until the 1:00 mark, when Valdosta would put up their first points in the period. After one period of play, Richmond Hill would remain in a firm 15-6 lead over Valdosta.
In the second period, Valdosta seemed to settle into the game more than they did in the first period, as they would play Richmond Hill much closer. Though Richmond Hill did lead the period by an 8-3 score, they were able to remain ahead with a 23-11 score that they would take into the break.
After the half, Inyang would again score the first points of the period, hitting a three point shot just nine seconds into the third period of play to go up 26-11. Valdosta would have their best period of the game, as they only allowed six more points in the period and outscored Richmond Hill 12-9 in the period. However, Richmond Hill remained securely in the lead, 32-23 while heading into the fourth period.
J. Brown opened the fourth in similar fashion as Inyang opened the third, by draining a three point shot very quickly. Brown made her shot two seconds faster, only seven seconds into the period. Richmond Hill would go on to dominate the period, as they outscored Valdosta 20-10, and finished the game with a convincing 52-33 win.
“As we head into the game to play Moultrie, we have to be better,” Jones said. “It’s great to be 1-0 tonight, but we have to turn the page and prepare for that game.”