RUHS Gals Crush Mt. Abe

The Randolph girls defeated the Mt. Abe Eagles at home Monday night, 50-36. On Friday, the Gal Ghosts traveled to Lamoille and lost 40-38 when one of the Lancers threw in a last second shot. Randolph’s record is now 4-2.

Mt. Abe Game

Randolph came out strong in the first quarter, jumping out to a 6-1 lead with hoops from Rachel DiStefano, Emily Howe and Brynn Fabian. Randolph’s passing was in good form and it paid off as six different players scored in the period. The Gal Ghosts led 16-9 after the first.

Howe, Laura Koloski and DeStefano brought Randolph’s lead to 26-9 with steals and jump shots. Meanwhile the team’s defense held the Eagles scoreless until there were just 2:47 seconds left on the clock. Mt Abe did make a little comeback when most of Coach Al Stewart’s starters took a breather, but the bench did a good job and the Gal Ghosts led, 28-19 at the break.

Randolph again came out strong against the Eagles to begin the third period. Fabian led off with two long jumpers that Mt. Abe matched but Anna Reis hit the side jumper and drove through the lane and Randolph maintained a good sized lead. With baskets from Koloski and Sharayah Nonemacher the Gal Ghosts led by 16, 42-26. as they headed into the final stanza.

Gwen Reis came off the bench and took charge in the fourth with back to back jumpers from the top of the key. DiStefano added good rebounding and Randolph increassed its edge to 48-26. The Eagles scored the last seven points of the game, that had gotten sloppy, but it was too little, too late. The Eagles top scorer was #44 Samantha Jackman with 17 points.

Koloski led Randolph’s scoring with 12 points, five players each had six points, A.Reis, DiStefano, Howe, Fabian and G. Reis. Nonemacher and Shelby Peltier each had 4.

Lamoille Loss

Randolph started off their away game versus the top-ranked Lamoille Lancers like a house a fire, outscoring their hosts, 13-4. Unfortunately Lamoille crept back over the course of the game, and a last second jumper won them the game, 40-38.

Lamoille outscored Randolph 12-11 in the second quarter but the Gal Ghosts retained a 24-16 edge at the halftime break. Randolph got into foul trouble early on with DiStefano and Howe both collecting three by halftime.

Howe got nailed with her fourth foul 20 seconds into the second half. Two missed bunnies in a row by the Ghosts didn’t bode well. The Gal Ghosts kept stealing the ball but they didn’t get a shot to go in until A.Reis hit a jumper with 2:42 left on the clock. It was a low scoring period for both teams with the Lancers adding seven and Randolph four. The score was 28-23, Randolph at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Lamiolle led off the final stanza with a traditional three-point play. A. Reis hit a jump shot but Lamoille matched that and then tied the game 30-all. The Gal Ghosts started to turn the ball over and their offense remained very quiet.

The Lancers pulled ahead by four before Howe, Fabian and Koloski retied the game 36-36 with a min-ute and a half to go. Lamoille scored but Fabian retied the match with two free throws and under a minute left. Randolph took a flurry of shots but didn’t have any luck and time ran down to 20 seconds. Lamoille stole the ball and scored with six seconds or less and the game was over.

After the game Coach Stewart said, "I’m very pleased, everyone contributed and Lamoille is #1 for a lot of reasons. We’re doing a lot of good things, but we got a little impatient in the second half and we weren’t getting the rebounds."

Scoring for Randolph were DiStefano and Howe with 7 points each, A.Reis, Fabian and Peltier with 6 points each, Koloski 4 and Morgan Stewart with 2 points. Nonemacher had 8 rebounds.

Randolph plays Oxbow away Friday, Jan. 6 and faces Hartford at home Tuesday. The make up game versus Spaulding will be at Spaulding Monday, Jan. 16 and the make up game versus Harwood will be at home Saturday, Feb. 11. The J.V. game will begin at 2 p.m. with the varsity following at 3:30 p.m.

J.V. Games

The J.V. girls lost to Lamoille, 45-20. Ashley Chase scored half her team’s points with 10.

The J.V. game versus Mt. Abe was a great, very close game with Mt. Abe winning, 25-23. Holly Mugford was high scorer with 11 points.

By Jill D. Montgomery