LYNCHBURG, Va- The Randolph women's basketball team hosted its home finale on Thursday evening as it welcomed Guilford to Giles Gymnasium. The WildCats jumped on the Quakers early then used a big third quarter run to break the game open and win 64-44.
Randolph improves its record to 16-5 overall and 12-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Guilford falls to 6-15 overall and 4-12 in the ODAC. With the victory, the WIldCats sweep the season series from the Quakers for the first time in program history.
Cierra Cook (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) scored the first eight points of the quarter for the WildCats as they led 8-5 and would eventually go up 12-5 with 3:36 remaining in the quarter. Randolph's lead was 17-8 at the end of the quarter.
The WildCats upped their advantage to 14 points, 30-16, with 5:24 remaining in the second quarter. Guilford cut its deficit in half to seven points, 32-25, with 1:30 to play in the quarter. A three by Cameron O'Neil (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) with under a minute remaining gave the 'Cats a 35-25 lead at halftime.
Back-to-back threes by Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) to begin the third quarter upped the Randolph lead to 41-25 less than two minutes into the period. That was part of a 14-3 run that gave the WildCats a 49-28 lead with 6:22 showing on the game clock. Randolph led by as much as 24 points, 54-30, with 3:09 remaining in the third quarter and the WildCats led comfortably for the remainder of the game.
Randolph shot 23-of-62 (37.1%) from the floor and 11-of-26 (42.3%) from behind the three-point arc. The 11 made threes tied a season-high. The WildCats led in points off turnovers 28-14, 20-4 in second chance points, 16-4 in bench points, and 20-14 in points in the paint. The WildCats dominated the board with a 44-22 advantage.
"Great effort from our squad tonight!" said head coach Steve Lanpher. "We came out with great energy on both ends. Our defensive intensity especially from Yanessa & Cierra created easy opportunities on offense. We had a little let down in the 2nd quarter but I thought we made some great adjustments & really came out in the 3rd quarter and put the game away!"
Cook led all scorers with 19 points. She added six rebounds, six assists, four steals, and one block. O'Neil scored 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting with all four baskets coming via three-pointers. She pulled down four rebounds along with two steals. Stark contributed 11 points, two rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Nadia West (Monroe, Va./Amherst County) scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. Yanessa Cabrera (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson) dished out five assists, came away with four steals, and secured three rebounds.
"Loved our unselfishness and our ball movement on the offensive end and felt like we contested and dominated the rebounding battle," said Lanpher.
The WildCats conclude the regular season on Saturday as they travel to Roanoke. Game time from Salem will be at 4:30 p.m. Randolph hopes to avenge a 64-47 loss to the Maroons back on January 31.
