GIRLS
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC -- Richmond Hill girls head coach Sarah Jones said it would be challenging playing back-to-back games off one day of practice coming out of the Christmas holiday.
But that didn’t play a factor for the Lady Cats (10-3, 1-1 Region 2-6A) for the first half of their 45-33 win over the Hilton Head Island High School Seahawks (4-8, 0-2 Region 7-4A) on Tuesday to sweep the season series.
The Lady Cats never trailed opening the game with a 15-6 lead by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Savannah Gravitt checked in and provided a spark, scoring nine of her 11 first half points in the period — game high 15 for the night.
“She was able to knock down some shots for us,” Jones said of the junior guard. “We’re asking her to play multiple right now and she’s doing whatever we need at this time. This is her first full game back from an injury, and she performed and executed really well for us.”
Gravitt knocked in threes, converted on and ones, and scored at the basket to eventually lead the Lady Cats to taking a 18-7 lead.
“I don’t think it was just me,” Gravitt said of her performance. “Everybody brought it to me to give me the opportunity to score the way I did. I wasn’t expecting to come in and do as well as I did especially coming back from an injury.”
Brionna Sutton extended the lead after making a three of her own from the corner.
At the break, the Wildcats saw themselves holding a 30-12 advantage over the Lady Seahawks.
“I felt like we executed well and got some really good shots,” Jones said after the game. “Defensively they called the game a little bit tighter than what we’re used to, and we got in some foul trouble pretty early. But you got to adjust to what’s being called. We didn’y adjust very well until about the second half.”
It got a little close in the third quarter when the Lady Seahawks outscored the Lady Cats 16-7.
Gianna Timko cut the Lady Cats lead to 35-25 after a three and then before the quarter ended, she cut it to single digits after splitting free throws.
“The offense kind of took a bit of a backseat,” Jones said of the lead cut. “We just got to find a way to play consistently from start to finish.”
In the fourth quarter the Lady Cats brought their lead back to double digits cleaned up a Sutton miss.
Jada Brown and Sutton stole a pass each on consecutive possessions and sealed the game from there.
We didn’t look to score the way we did in the first half. We were pretty patient offensively in the first half. And we gave up some easy buckets. It just changed the momentum and then we got a couple steals from Brionna and Jada with some easy layups and I think that pushed the lead a little bit further for us.”
The Lady Cats will once again travel to Hilton Head when they take on Hilton Head Christian Academy on Thursday, Dec. 30.
“They’re a really good team,” Jones said of the next opponent. “We played them last year at Savannah Country Day. They’re going to press us the whole time. They won the state championship for their division. It’s going to be nice to get out there and play some really good competition.”
BOYS
The Richmond Hill Wildcats didn’t get off to a good start to begin their three-game week.
On Tuesday the Wildcats (4-8, 2-0 Region 2-6A) traveled to the Hilton Head Island High School Seahawks and fell (4-5, 1-1 Region 7-4A) 66-49, splitting the season series.
This game didn’t have the same excitement of their Dec. 4 matchup where the Wildcats edged the Seahawks in overtime.
The Seahawks jumped out to an 8-1 lead over the Wildcats.
And that’s how it went for the remainder of the game.
By the end of the first quarter, the Seahawks led 23-10 as Wildcats head coach Bill Henderson attempted to rile his team up, being heard across the gym.
But the Seahawks stayed on them for the majority of the second quarter highlighted by Matthew Larkby emphatically swatting a layup by Caleb Easterling and the scoring of Josh Hennum as they led 30-11.
But the Wildcats went on a little run, beating the Wildcats out 13-5 as they trailed 35-24 despite Brayden Baker’s 15 first half points.
The lead was extended in the third quarter with Karyce Campbell putting the exclamation point with a fastbreak dunk.
The Seahawks led 52-26 going into the fourth where they coasted to the win to get revenge over the Wildcats.
Baker led all scorers with 25.
The Wildcats will be at Savannah Country Day for the next two days for where they will face Kings Ridge from Alpharetta on Wednesday and SCD on Thursday.