Stuarts Draft still second

Madison Comer was in her element.

East Rockingham’s freshman point guard scored six points in a 9-0 Eagles run midway through the third quarter and took over ball handling duties in the fourth as East Rock dominated Stuarts Draft 65-53 in Shenandoah District girls basketball Tuesday night.

The hosts were looking to split the season series and knot up the district standings with a win.

The Cougars’ Morgan Holbert had just converted a steal into a layup to pull the Draft (14-4, 10-2 Shenandoah District) to within three, 38-35, with just under five minutes left in the period.

But a turnover and back-to-back missed opportunities doomed the hosts.

Comer converted two free throws, then made a steal at mid-court and raced in for the bucket. But even a quick timeout by Cougar coach Jason Kirby didn’t slow the freshman down.

After play resumed, the Eagles’ Meghan Nicholson backed into the paint for a bucket and Comer then dropped in a dagger from the baseline to push East Rockingham to a 46-35 advantage. The run forced Kirby’s squad out of their match-up zone into a man-to-man defense — a move that played right into the hands of the guard-heavy Eagle’s team.

"We feel like we have an advantage when we can spread the floor late in the game," Eagle’s coach Paul Comer said. "We basically run a four-guard offense — five really with Chase Raynes who we play in the post — and it’s a tough-guard for other teams to have to come out and chase us."

The East Rockingham (19-1, 12-0 Shenandoah District) quickness allowed the visitors to score off of six layups in the fourth quarter to keep the Cougars at bay.

Stuarts Draft had kept things close in the first half, getting six points from Holbert in the first quarter to grab a 14-13 lead.

But it was East Rockingham that took the halftime lead at 28-27 behind two buckets each by Jessica Lam and Nicholson in the paint.

"I thought we had four or five good looks there in the third quarter that we just didn’t knock down," Kirby said. "Just like any other team, our defense is better when our shots are falling. We let up on the defensive end as well."

And Kirby was hoping to keep the game close so that his squad could stay back in their zone.

"We just don’t match up with [East Rockingham] when we play man," he said. "You can’t just chase [the Eagles] around. Man-to-man is not our strong point."

So, Madison Comer, Kaitlyn Dofflemyer and Olivia Dofflemyer played catch out front for most of the final frame and took advantage of the openings in the Draft defense.

Raynes paced East Rockingham with 15 points while Nicholson added 14 and Comer had 10.

For Stuarts Draft, Holbert knocked down 20 and dished out eight assists, while fellow senior Kailey Sitzberger added 14.

With two district games to go, East Rockingham will travel to Page County on Friday, while the Cougars entertain Stonewall Jackson.