Junior Panthers post more wins
There was plenty of basketball action at home Wednesday evening, Jan. 30. First the Junior Panther teams hosted Bethel Christian School of Front Royal, and then the girls JV and varsity hosted George Mason. The Junior Panthers won.
The girls went first. Bethel scored first, and then Jessica Shaw got a basket and tied the score at 2-2. She got several chances to increase the lead at the free throw line and finally got Rapp a 3-2 lead. Haley Hogan increased the lead to 5-2, but then Bethel countered and took the lead 6-5 before Jessica got another bucket and the first quarter ended with Rapp up 7-6.
The second quarter was low scoring, but Rapp increased its lead at half time to 12-8. The game ended in a 23-14 win for Rappahannock. Haley Hogan led the scoring with eight points. Jessica Shaw, Kourtney Yowell and Lauren Light had five each.
Rappahannock’s boys jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and Coach Rich Hogan was able to give his subs lots of playing time in the other three quarters. Rapp led 20-2 at halftime and won the game 30-8.
Josh Frye had eight points and Matthew Nicholson had seven. The other half of the points were spread among a lot of starters and subs. Bethel brought a squad of tiny cheerleaders who greatly entertained the crowd.
With the older girls on the floor, however, there was not much good news for Panther fans. George Mason brought much larger squads to play, and that meant they could keep bringing fresh players to meet up with tiring Panthers.
Although Rapp’s JV got a 6-3 early lead, it didn’t hold up and Mason led 23-6 at half time. Mason increased its lead throughout the second half and ended the third quarter up 38-12 and the game with a 48-15 win.
Laura Caperton led the scoring with six points. Hanna Kopjanski and Joslyn Smith had four each.
The varsity game wasn’t any better as Mason jumped out to a 11-0 lead. There were less than three minutes left in the first quarter before Rapp got on the board with Noel Johns free throws. The quarter ended with the Mustangs up 17-8. Mason added to the margin in the second quarter and led 39-12 at half time.
The second half wasn’t as one-sided, but that is because Mason was able to use subs freely, and won with a score of 61-30. Kim Hutcheson led the Panther scoring with 15 of Rapp’s 30 points. Coach Scott Wilde would only comment of his players, “They played hard.”
All four squads play again on Friday when the Junior Panthers host Wakefield Country Day School with games starting at 4 p.m. and the girls’ JV and varsity squads playing Strasburg with games beginning at 6:30.
-- Sharon Kilpatrick
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