Roaming into the mountains of Virginia, the Yellow Jackets were surrounded and stampeded by the Rams in both varsity girls basketball 64-41 and boys basketball 72-56 games last Saturday in Strasburg as the Moorefield boys junior varsity basketball squad was the only one to escape with a victory by a score of 61-53.
Moorefield JV boys basketball team was led in scoring by Coleman Mongold with 24 points and Ryan McGregor contributed 17 points, while the Rams were paced by Cooper with 14 points.
The triple-header feature continued with the varsity boys basketball contest and the girls varsity game finished the session in Strasburg.
Strasburg boys basketball was guided by Derek Fox with 21 points, followed by Kamyrn Pangle with 13 points, while the Yellow Jackets were led by Chase Vance with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Thomas Williams with 12 points and Brent Moran added ten markers.
Both teams netted seven 3-pointers apiece.[private]
Strasburg girls basketball was led by Christyan Reid with a game-high 32 points, followed by Nyla Sperry with 15 points, while Moorefield was paced by Lexi Gilhuys with 16 points and Lindsey Rinker contributed 11 points.
Both teams scored six 3-pointers each.
In the varsity boys basketball game, Strasburg jumped out to a 14-2 advantage in the first four minutes of the game against the Yellow Jackets.
The Rams started the scoring with a 3-pointer by Craig Pangle at 7:38 and Moorefield responded with a spinning jumper by Brent Moran at 7:02 before Strasburg went on an 11-nil run.
Strasburg missed two field goals and the possession was kept alive with rebounds by Trey Stinnette and Kamyrn Pangle, then Trevor Sager drew a foul leading to two free throws.
Kamyrn Pangle collected a defensive rebound and fed Sager for a jumper.
Moorefield missed and Derek Fox grabbed the board for the Rams leading to his own basket.
After another Yellow Jackets miss, Strasburg hit the rim once and Sager collected the board for a bucket.
K. Pangle snatched a defensive carom and Fox hit a 3-pointer to make it 14-2 at the 4:00 mark.
A missed shot was tipped and Moorefield’s Chase Vance hauled in the ricochet, then scored on an old-fashioned three-point play at 3:38,
Moorefield’s Lane Ours blocked a shot, then the Rams recovered with Fox hitting a layup going down the baseline.
Yousef Malaki collected a rebound for the Yellow Jackets and passed to Vance, who finished the possession with a jumper at 2:33 for a 16-7 score.
Strasburg lost the ball out of bounds, then Moorefield’s Thomas Williams nailed a jumper.
The Rams answered with an old-fashioned three-point play by Kamyrn Pangle.
Strasburg’s Ronald Fox made two field goals off of turnovers including his own steal to take a 23-9 advantage.
The Yellow Jackets closed out the first period with baskets by Jaydon See and Williams to close the gap to 23-13.
Moorefield hit the rim on the opening shot of the second period and Trevor Shoemaker made a leaping save along the baseline under the basket, but the ball was intercepted by Strasburg’s Ryan Jenkins and the Rams failed to convert missing both field goals and foul shots.
Jenkins grabbed a defensive rebound, then Strasburg’s Derek Fox connected on a 3-pointer at 6:35.
Vance chased down a tipped ball after an errant shot and knocked down a jumper for the Yellow Jackets
The Rams walked on the next possession, but Moorefield hit the rim and Fox took the carom and passed to Jenkins for a layup to extend the lead 28-15.
After a charge by Shoemaker, Lane Ours fielded a defensive board for the Yellow Jackets and passed to Moran, who drew a foul and made both foul shots at 4:01.
In the final three minutes of the second period, Moran made two field goals and Vance added another for Moorefield, while the Rams had two jumpers netted by Derek Fox for a 32-23 halftime lead.
Strasburg’s Craig Pangle drilled a 3-pointer at the 7:00 mark of the third period, then Moorefield responded with a layup from Vance.
Sager knocked down a jumper for the Rams, then the Yellow Jackets notched a 3-pointer by Williams who had collected a tipped ball off the rim for a 37-28 score at 6:04.
Stinnette sandwiched two jumpers around a layup by Moran over the next minute for a 41-30 Rams advantage.
Vance and Kamyrn Pangle traded 3-pointers as Strasburg took a 49-33 lead with 3:06 remaining in the third period.
Strasburg edged out the Yellow Jackets 9-8 in the final three minutes of the period with Malaki, Vance and Williams notching points for Moorefield as the score stood at 58-41 entering the last stanza.
The Yellow Jackets connected on five 3-pointers in the fourth period as Coleman Mongold hit three, Thomas Williams made one and Dean Keplinger added another, but the Rams continued to hit jumpers to finish with a 72-56 victory.
“We came out flat. We were sluggish and they can shoot. They shot well tonight. We didn’t do anything to help ourselves. Chase Vance played a nice game and that was nice to see. He had 20 points and ten rebounds. That was good to see from Chase,” Moorefield Boys Basketball coach Scott Stutler remarked.
Strasburg girls basketball’s Christyan Reid and Moorefield’s Gianna Fair shook hands at the beginning of the game at the tip-off circle towering over the rest of the players as both were the tallest on the floor at about 6’4”.
Reid used her height and agility to net a game-high 32 points making all of the Rams 15 points in the first period alone and teammate Jaden Alsberry at 6’3” helped with the towering rebound effort.
The Yellow Jackets missed six field goals in the first three minutes of the game as Reid put Strasburg up 6-nil on two jumpers and two free throws.
Moorefield notched its first points at the 4:52 mark on a jumper by Lindsey Rinker.
Reid netted two free throws on the ensuing Strasburg possession.
The Yellow Jackets answered with a basket in the paint by Lexi Gilhuys at 4:15 to make it 8-4.
The Rams missed their next four shot attempts, then Rinker nailed a 3-pointer at the 2:53 mark closing the gap 8-7.[/private]
Gilhuys collected a defensive rebound for Moorefield, then Strasburg’s Jaden Alsberry stole the ball and passed to Reid for the field goal.
Alsberry grabbed a defensive rebound and Fair swiped the ball away for the Yellow Jackets setting up a 3-pointer by Madison McGregor tying the game at 10-all at 1:50.
Reid added a free throw, then scored two jumpers off turnovers to create a 15-10 Rams lead with 47 seconds left in the frame.
McGregor dropped another 3-pointer to slice the deficit to 15-13 with 30 seconds to go.
Reid collected an offensive rebound, but Moorefield’s Anna Riggleman made a steal and the last shot of the period was off the mark.
Early in the second period, there were 3-pointers made thrice in 40 seconds as Rinker sandwiched a pair of perimeter shots for the Yellow Jackets around one by Strasburg’s Nyla Sperry as Moorefield took a 19-18 lead at 6:48.
A minute later, the Rams regained the lead after a walk with Reid scoring jumper.
Strasburg’s Madison Stinnette stole the ball and Alsberry assisted Maddie Smallwood on a field goal at 5:05 for a 22-19 edge.
Reid snatched a defensive rebound then Sperry drew a foul and added one free throw.
Reid blocked Rinker, then Alsberry made a steal and passed to Sperry for a layup.
The Yellow Jackets walked twice and Reid scored both times after those turnovers to put the Rams ahead 29-19.
Strasburg lost the ball out of bounds, then Riggleman made a putback for Moorefield with 1:20 left in the first half.
Reid and Alsberry blocked shot attempts, then Sperry stole the ball and scored to give the Rams a 31-21 halftime lead.
The Rams missed two field goals to begin the second half and Fair collected the latter rebound for Moorefield leading to a free throw by Gilhuys.
Fair notched another defensive board and Rinker dished to Gilhuys for a 3-pointer to slice the deficit to 31-25 at 6:49.
Glihuys launched two jumpers over the twin towers sandwiching a 3-pointer by Smallwood to create a 36-29 score at 5:20.
The Rams netted the next seven points over one minute stretch with five points from Sperry including a 3-pointer and two free throws by Alsberry.
Fair grabbed an offensive rebound and found Riggleman for a jumper at the 3:20 mark as the Yellow Jackets cut into the Strasburg lead 43-31.
Reid scored five points in the last two minutes of the third period, while Gilhuys added four points for Moorefield with the Rams carrying a 48-35 lead into the final stanza.
Riggleman blocked a shot, collected a rebound and netted a jumper in the first minute of the fourth period for the Yellow Jackets.
Strasburg netted three 3-pointers in just over a minute by Reid, Natalie Hott and Stinnette for a 57-39 advantage with 4:31 remaining.
Reid blocked a shot, then McGregor stole the ball and it was swiped back by Strasburg’s Kenley Smith setting up a field goal by Hott at 3:40 as the Rams went up 59-39.
The Yellow Jackets committed seven turnovers and forced three in the final three minutes, but only managed to score one field goal which was a jumper by Kaleigh Hunt at 2:24.
Strasburg garnered points from Reid and Bella Rhodes to close out the 64-41 victory.
“Christyan Reid had 32 points, but the difference was the [Nyla] Sperry girl. We let her dribble to the basket and throw it up. It makes it easy when you let her make that penetration. If we had stopped that, then it would have been a different game. We stopped her a few times early and were hanging around, but in the second half we just let her go wherever she wanted. She did a good job controlling the pace of the ball and dribbling into the lane or back out,” Moorefield Girls Basketball coach Paul Keplinger noted.
“We gave up size, but we kept our hands up. The key is stopping Sperry. They had two big girls inside, but the little girl on the floor was the key. We have a chance to battle them again on Saturday. We made a few shots in the first half, but in the second half we didn’t hustle. They stated making shots and we would come down and miss and the same thing would happen again, so it wasn’t hard for them to build that lead.”
Moorefield Girls Basketball will face the Rams again this Saturday.