Luray and Page sit at third and fifth, respectively, in Bull Run
By Randy Arrington
SHENANDOAH, Jan. 22 — After starting off the season 0-5, the Luray girls basketball team has now won five of their last eight games. Freshman sensation Caroline Donovan lead Luray to a 49-36 win over Page County on Wednesday night with a game-high 23 points, as the Bulldogs now sit in third place in the Bull Run District.
“We’ve had a weird schedule, so I think just winning a district game, on the road…we’ve had two practices in two-and-a-half weeks…so I think just finding ways to get wins, even when we’re sort of not playing our best is really big for a young group,” LHS head coach Joe Lucas said after Wednesday’s rivalry game.
Despite not having a senior on the Luray roster, Coach Lucas has benefitted from the outstanding play of two freshmen. Donovan and classmate Emily Benson combined for 33 of the Bulldogs’ 49 points on Wednesday at Page.
“Every time we open the gym, those two kids are in there and I think it shows,” Coach Lucas said.
Donovan leads Luray in scoring. After picking up two quick fouls in the first quarter on Wednesday, she didn’t play again until the third frame. Despite getting no playing time in the second quarter, the freshman still lead all scorers in the game.
“She is one of our hardest workers. She’s grown up in our program watching her sister Emily,” said Coach Lucas, referring to the Class of ’24 graduate who is now playing for EMU. “[Caroline’s] really versatile. She can play around the basket, she can play on the perimeter when we ask her to…she’s really coachable and she’s unique. She’s a big kid that we don’t have to bury in the post; we can sort of move her around to what we need.”
Benson scored most of her 10 points in the paint and went to the foul line as many times as the Panthers did as a team on Wednesday.
“She’s aggressive…she’s come a really long way, as far as her skill,” Coach Lucas said. “I think she’s going to be one that’s still kinda raw, but she’s going to get better and better.”
Page County was lead by one of the best all-around female athletes in the county, Ali Purdham, who had a team-high 15 points against Luray. Purdham hit four of the Panthers eight three-pointers on the night, including three in the second half.
“She struggled…I feel for her a little bit because she does have some varsity experience and has played in some big games….so I feel for her a little bit because she is still trying to navigate with the newcomers and their lack of experience and sometimes it’s frustrating for her,” PCHS head coach E.J. Wyant said following the rivalry game. “She’s a great kid, and she plays hard.”
Both teams had trouble finding the bottom of the net, as Luray only hit 31 percent of their shots from the floor on Wednesday (16-of-51), while Page made only 28 percent (13-of-46). Turnovers were fairly even between the two teams — 11 for Luray and 10 for Page — and those miscues were evenly split between the two halves. The Panthers were able to keep the game from being a runaway by hitting eight three-pointers, including six in the second half. Luray only recorded three triples, but hit 55 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-22). Page only made four trips to the line and went 2-for-7 (29 percent).
Despite poor shooting, Coach Wyant felt his team might also have lacked some motivation in the rivalry game.
“I thought [Luray] out hustled us…I thought they wanted it more than us,” Coach Wyant said after the game. “We kind of had a heart-to-heart conversation in [the locker room] about…do we really have the desire and know what it takes to win at this point? We have a lot of girls who haven’t played a lot of varsity basketball, but at the end of the day, you gotta want it…and sometimes it’s frustrating because I feel like as coaches, we want it more than they do…I give Luray credit, they played hard. I think they wanted it more than us.”
Luray jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the first, but Page matched the visitors point-for-point in the second frame and trailed 21-15 at the half. The Panthers hit back-to-back three-pointers a little over midway through the third to close the deficit to just three points, 27-24, but that would be the last close margin of the game. The Bulldogs went on 16-3 run to build up a 43-27 lead with just 4:30 left in the game. Page responded with a hat trick of triples in just 95 seconds that brought the score to 46-36 with 2:50 left on the clock, but the Panthers would not be able to score again. Benson and Donovan closed out the scoring for Luray and sealed the 49-36 district win.
Despite the game being relocated to PCHS due to a boiler/heating issue at LHS, the Luray crowd traveled well down Route 340 and the rivalry was played out in front of a packed house.
“I think that’s huge…it can go both ways…I told them to kind of tune out the noise, the students, the crowd and all that stuff, but I do think it helps…especially when you are able to go on runs,” Coach Lucas said. “We talked about a 4-0 run with that crowd feels like a 10-0 run.”
Coach Wyant’s squad is down two seniors who both suffered season-ending injuries during the holiday tournament at Strasburg. However, Page got solid minutes on Wednesday from sophomore Veronica Yorro, who had seven points on the night.
“We’ve been on her about looking to score…cause up until tonight really, she would catch it and just look to move the ball. She’s got a nice shot, and we’ve been telling her, make a couple of those shots and then they’ll start closing out hard on you and you can get by ’em,” Coach Wyant said. “I told her at the beginning of the year, I kind of envision her playing a role kinda like Bailee Gaskins did for us because she’s versatile…she can shoot, and a lot of times because she’s in that four spot she might have a little bit of a mismatch…but we’re still working on her just looking to score…and honestly that’s our whole group outside of Ali.”
After winning only two of their first 10 games, the Panthers have now won two of their last four. Up next, Page County (2-3, 4-10) will host Madison County (1-4, 3-11) in a district matchup this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Coach Wyant is hoping his team can regroup and finish the season trending upward.
“I kinda challenged them to examine themselves. I challenged them to think about every rep, whether it be in practice, every possession, whether it be a game, and ask are you really trying to make the most of each of those opportunities,” he said. “We have two seniors that basically lost their senior season due to injury, and I told them, you never know when it’s done…and so whatever opportunity you get, you’d better make the most of it. We’ve got a resilient group and I’d like to think they will respond and come back and give us what we want.”
Luray’s young squad (4-2, 5-8) currently sits only one game away from a second-place tie in the Bull Run with Clarke (4-1, 9-4), and only two games from tying No. 1 Strasburg (4-0, 9-4), who they host this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Coach Lucas’ team is also suffering from injuries and has had limited practice due to the schedule and weather conditions, but he feels they will keep improving.
“Staying healthy [is going to be key]. Right now we have two [players out], so we’re playing with eight kids…so that’s really big. Getting some practice time I think is huge…like we play Strasburg on Friday, so we’ll have to try to throw something together for them tomorrow,” Coach Lucas said. “Then I think it’s just continuing to fight through, growing pains I guess… and then just sort of finding ways to mature and grow even though we’re not getting a ton of practice time right now.”
For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
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