Painter hits game-high 18 for Luray; Purdham puts up 14 for Page
By Randy Arrington
SHENANDOAH, Jan. 20 — With a youthful roster that features only one senior and two juniors, the Luray Bulldogs have worked their way into third place in both the Bull Run District and the Region 1B standings. On Tuesday night, Luray completed a 5-2 run through the first round of district action with a dominating Bull Run win over rival Page County, 53-24.
“I thought a few minutes into the game we kind of took control…trying to limit [Ali] Purdham, she’s really, really good, so the whole thing revolved around limiting her…keeping [Adi] Caton off the glass, she plays really hard and everybody else, just playing team defense I think was really important. Not just relying on one or two girls to slow them down,” LHS head coach Joe Lucas said after Tuesday night’s victory.
LHS freshman standout Brylee Painter scored seven of her game-high 18 points in the opening quarter.
“She plays hard all the time, she’s non-stop. We put her on the other teams’ best guard to start the game…she did stuff on the glass…she just does a lot of stuff that we don’t have to draw up plays for her, she just finds ways to contribute. She’s all motor…her motor is just unreal.”
Luray shot 50 percent from the floor, got five Bulldogs in the scorebook and jumped out to an early 19-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both Painter and fellow freshman Makenzee Owens hit three-pointers to help create the separation. Page went 2-for-13 from the floor during that stretch and still didn’t have any points from their star Purdham.
The Page County senior would go on to score a team-high 14 of the team’s 19 remaining points in the game. The Panthers hit only 18 percent of their shots (8-of-44) for the game, while going 6-for-10 at the line. Luray had its shooting difficulties as well — only hitting 34 percent from the floor, and going a dismal 7-for-21 at the line. The turnover difference was marginal.
Luray lead 31-10 at the half, but went 3-for-10 at the foul line in the third quarter. The Panthers showed some life during that frame and outscored the visitors 12-10 behind three-pointers from Purdham and senior Kahlei Shifflett. However, Purdham would score the Panthers lone basket of the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs went on a 12-2 run to close out a 53-24 victory.
Behind Painter’s game-high 18, Lury got a lot easy baskets in the paint from sophomore Emily Benson, who finished with 12 points. Sophomore Caroline Donovan contributed seven, junior Chloe Gochenour hit two triples for six points, and Owens ended with five.
Behind Purdham’s team-high 14, junior Lindsay Babb had four.
In the Bull Run, behind an undefeated Clarke and a one-loss Strasburg, sits a two-loss Luray. In Region 1B, the Bulldogs sit just behind No. 1 Surry and No. 2 Riverheads. With eight regular season games remaining, the Bulldogs still see potential for making some noise in the postseason.
“This was our last game in the first round of districts, so we’re 5-2 in the league and 9-6, after starting out 1-3. So we’re looking to finish out our district schedule strong and hopefully compete for a [high] seed in the 1B playoffs,” Coach Lucas said on Tuesday night. “But I think we’re just…still finding ways to get better. I thought we could have rebounded better tonight. I don’t know what we shot from the foul line, but not very well…we left a lot of points on the board. So there’s a lot we can still improve on.”
Up next, Luray (5-2, 9-6) hosts No. 1 Clarke (7-0, 14-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22.
Page County (2-5, 5-10) travels to Rappahannock (3-4, 7-6) on Friday night, Jan. 23 for a 6 p.m. tip.
For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
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