Photo by James Perkins
The James River girls will be home to meet Auburn on Thursday night and in Moneta to play Staunton River in basketball on Friday.
River is still looking for a win after 16 games. Last week the girls lost to two solid Three Rivers District teams, Glenvar and Radford.
Against Glenvar the Knights hung tough before falling 40-36. It was one of their closest games of the season and came against a quality opponent.
“It was a great opportunity to get our first win of the season,” said coach Mark Eubank. “We just didn’t play well enough in the fourth quarter and we had 12 turnovers in the second half, which hurt us.”
Brittany Crawford finished with a season-high 10 points and Susan Schulz pulled 11 rebounds. Brenna Eubank hit two clutch three-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep River in the game.
“I told the girls after the game that sometimes you have to first go through a close game in order to win a close game,” said Eubank. “We have figured out how to compete on a nightly basis and this was something I said before the season that he had to do. We just have to find a way to win.”
At Radford the girls dropped a 50-28 decision. River trailed just 11-9 after the first quarter but the Bobcats upped the advantage to 23-13 by halftime.
“We knew they were going to press us and play in-your-face man-to-man defense,” said Eubank. “They were very aggressive and relentless with their pressure on the perimeter.”
Schulz recorded her second straight game with double-digit rebounds and Eubank had her second straight game with multiple three-pointers.
“After the game I made sure that everyone understood in the locker room that their intensity and aggressiveness starts in March,” said coach Eubank. “If they didn’t work hard in the off-season they wouldn’t be able to play that style of defense.”