The Shadow
The Alleghany girls were in attack mode Monday night at Mountaineer Gym.
The Mounties forced Covington into 11 first-quarter turnovers, jumped out early and never looked back in a 66-36 girls basketball win over the Cougars.
For the night, the visitors were guilty of 34 turnovers that led to a number of easy scores for the winners.
“We have Maggie (Rooklin) and Emma (Nicely) at the front of that press,” said AHS coach Jeff Wolfe. “They have some length to them and it causes teams some problems.”
After Elaishja Helton’s triple gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead in the game’s first minute, Alleghany rolled through the rest of the quarter.
The Mountaineers scored 16 straight at one point and a Rooklin three ball had the lead at 25-6 after one.
Alleghany hit five triples in the first half and shot just over 50 percent.
“I think we had seven players score in the first half,” Wolfe said. “I think Maggie may have pressed a little early being a rival game. But she settled and distributed the ball and let her teammates take care of her tonight.”
Rooklin joined Erin Harden with 13 points each for the winners, Gracie Conner was also in double figures with 11 and Kendell Keene added eight.
Rooklin also led the Mounties on the boards with seven.
Helton and Amiah Hunter both had nine points for Covington and Ariel Barber added seven points and 10 rebounds.
“We had 17 turnovers in the first half,” said CHS coach Roy Redmon. “We’re not going to win any game with 17 turnovers in a half. We did a little better in the second half with that, getting the ball in the middle of the floor.”
Covington (1-2) plays at Staunton Wednesday, while the unbeaten Mountaineers (4-0) host the Alcova Mortgage Lady Mountaineer Classic this weekend at AHS.
Alleghany was a 52-8 junior varsity winner Monday.
Macyn Cash led the Mounties with 15. Abbie Fridley (9), Kalin Rice (7), Kassie Huffman (6), Ashtyn Bishop (4), Zamera Hayslett (4), Cassidy Puffenbarger (4) and Maddi Brown (2) completed the scoring.
Raven Heighter had six points for Covington and Kayla Bartley scored two.
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Alleghany’s Kierstin Mundy (white) tries to tie up Covington’s Kim Via. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
