ERHS Wins, 48-30
Eagles Hit ‘Brakes’ To Beat Luray
Posted: January 19, 2013
ELKTON – Not only does East Rockingham High School’s girls’ basketball team play like a well-oiled machine, the Eagles actually equate their players to parts of a car.
Speedy point guard Madison Comer is “the engine.” Vocal post player Meghan Nicholson is “the horn.” And defensive-stopper Katie Dofflemyer is “the brakes.”
On Friday, East Rock was running low on fuel, but the brakes came to the rescue.
Dofflemyer held Luray’s top scorer, junior Sable Ponn, to just three points, and the Eagles locked down Luray in a 48-30 win Friday night.
“She’s our brakes, and that’s what I told her,” ERHS coach Paul Comer said of Dofflemyer. “…When we need a stop, Katie’s capable of stopping anybody in our league.”
The first time Luray played the Eagles (16-0 overall, 9-0 in the Shenandoah District) on Dec. 14, Ponn had 23 points and 20 rebounds. Of course, the Eagles still won 60-47 – they’ve now won 44 in a row dating to last season – but they were still intent on holding down Luray’s 5-foot-11 forward this time.
Dofflemyer didn’t guard Ponn last game. Perhaps that was the problem.
“He’s like, ‘Shut her down,’” Dofflemyer said of what Comer told her before the game.
“We played together for a really long time in AAU, so I knew her weaknesses and ways you can stop her.”
All of Ponn’s points Friday came when Dofflemyer wasn’t guarding her, on a night when all of the Bulldogs struggled. Sophomore guard Jordan Dudley led Luray (11-6, 4-5) with eight points and Ponn pulled down 17 rebounds, but LHS shot just 10-of-46 (21.7 percent) from the floor while committing 23 turnovers.
“If I’m not making enough points – it’s not for me, I don’t care – but I’m letting my team down,” said Ponn, the daughter of coach Chris Ponn. “I’m not scoring what I need to score for my team. Maybe one shot will get one of the other girls going, and maybe they’ll have confidence that, ‘Hey, maybe I can make a shot.’ It’s hard to play against such a good defensive team.”
The brakes helped make up for a rough night for the Eagles’ offensive machinery.
The Eagles shot 9-of-28 in the first half and missed their first 10 3-pointers. That helped Luray stay competitive for a while, trailing 19-12 at the half and 33-26 in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been on exams this week, we played Monday night, light practice on Tuesday and didn’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday, and it looked like we haven’t shot the ball for a while,” Comer said. “That happens some nights.”
The Eagles, though, were able to lean offensively on Nicholson, who says she’s the team’s horn because “I’m always the one that yells when people come out of the game.” She also made some noise inside Friday, scoring 16 points – the most since missing a few games with a nagging shoulder injury early in the season.
“It’s nice to get back in the groove of things,” Nicholson said. “It’s just that point to where it’s like, ‘OK, I’m not hurt anymore, I’m OK, let’s get going with things now.’”
The engine (sophomore Madison Comer) chipped in 10 points, and seniors Jessica Lam and Sarah Comer each had eight.
Dofflemyer added six, but that was just a bonus to halting her team from potentially careening into its first loss.
“We’ve got some good shooters on this team, but tonight, all of us were struggling,” Paul Comer said. “When that happens, you’ve got to find a way.”
LURAY
Keyser 1 0-0 2, Dudley 3 0-0 8, Ponn 1 1-2 3, Henry 1 0-2 2, Kelly 0 0-0 0, Nichols 2 0-0 4, Beahm 2 0-0 4, Dinges 3 1-2 7. Totals 13 2-6 30.
EAST ROCKINGHAM
Dofflemyer 2 2-2 6, Comer 3 4-5 10, Rouse 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Cameron 2 3-4 8, Wilkins 0 0-0 0, Lam 2 4-8 8, Bailey 0 0-0 0, Nicholson 8 0-0 16, Kisling 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 13-19 48.
Luray 6 6 8 10 - 30
East Rock 8 11 10 19 - 48
3-Point Goals—Luray 2 (Dudley 2), East Rockingham 1 (Cameron 1). Fouled Out—Luray (Henry). Rebounds—Luray 37 (Ponn 17), East Rockingham 22 (Cameron 5). Total Fouls—Luray 20, East Rockingham 11.
JV score: 42-15 East Rockingham
Speedy point guard Madison Comer is “the engine.” Vocal post player Meghan Nicholson is “the horn.” And defensive-stopper Katie Dofflemyer is “the brakes.”
On Friday, East Rock was running low on fuel, but the brakes came to the rescue.
Dofflemyer held Luray’s top scorer, junior Sable Ponn, to just three points, and the Eagles locked down Luray in a 48-30 win Friday night.
“She’s our brakes, and that’s what I told her,” ERHS coach Paul Comer said of Dofflemyer. “…When we need a stop, Katie’s capable of stopping anybody in our league.”
The first time Luray played the Eagles (16-0 overall, 9-0 in the Shenandoah District) on Dec. 14, Ponn had 23 points and 20 rebounds. Of course, the Eagles still won 60-47 – they’ve now won 44 in a row dating to last season – but they were still intent on holding down Luray’s 5-foot-11 forward this time.
Dofflemyer didn’t guard Ponn last game. Perhaps that was the problem.
“He’s like, ‘Shut her down,’” Dofflemyer said of what Comer told her before the game.
“We played together for a really long time in AAU, so I knew her weaknesses and ways you can stop her.”
All of Ponn’s points Friday came when Dofflemyer wasn’t guarding her, on a night when all of the Bulldogs struggled. Sophomore guard Jordan Dudley led Luray (11-6, 4-5) with eight points and Ponn pulled down 17 rebounds, but LHS shot just 10-of-46 (21.7 percent) from the floor while committing 23 turnovers.
“If I’m not making enough points – it’s not for me, I don’t care – but I’m letting my team down,” said Ponn, the daughter of coach Chris Ponn. “I’m not scoring what I need to score for my team. Maybe one shot will get one of the other girls going, and maybe they’ll have confidence that, ‘Hey, maybe I can make a shot.’ It’s hard to play against such a good defensive team.”
The brakes helped make up for a rough night for the Eagles’ offensive machinery.
The Eagles shot 9-of-28 in the first half and missed their first 10 3-pointers. That helped Luray stay competitive for a while, trailing 19-12 at the half and 33-26 in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been on exams this week, we played Monday night, light practice on Tuesday and didn’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday, and it looked like we haven’t shot the ball for a while,” Comer said. “That happens some nights.”
The Eagles, though, were able to lean offensively on Nicholson, who says she’s the team’s horn because “I’m always the one that yells when people come out of the game.” She also made some noise inside Friday, scoring 16 points – the most since missing a few games with a nagging shoulder injury early in the season.
“It’s nice to get back in the groove of things,” Nicholson said. “It’s just that point to where it’s like, ‘OK, I’m not hurt anymore, I’m OK, let’s get going with things now.’”
The engine (sophomore Madison Comer) chipped in 10 points, and seniors Jessica Lam and Sarah Comer each had eight.
Dofflemyer added six, but that was just a bonus to halting her team from potentially careening into its first loss.
“We’ve got some good shooters on this team, but tonight, all of us were struggling,” Paul Comer said. “When that happens, you’ve got to find a way.”
LURAY
Keyser 1 0-0 2, Dudley 3 0-0 8, Ponn 1 1-2 3, Henry 1 0-2 2, Kelly 0 0-0 0, Nichols 2 0-0 4, Beahm 2 0-0 4, Dinges 3 1-2 7. Totals 13 2-6 30.
EAST ROCKINGHAM
Dofflemyer 2 2-2 6, Comer 3 4-5 10, Rouse 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Cameron 2 3-4 8, Wilkins 0 0-0 0, Lam 2 4-8 8, Bailey 0 0-0 0, Nicholson 8 0-0 16, Kisling 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 13-19 48.
Luray 6 6 8 10 - 30
East Rock 8 11 10 19 - 48
3-Point Goals—Luray 2 (Dudley 2), East Rockingham 1 (Cameron 1). Fouled Out—Luray (Henry). Rebounds—Luray 37 (Ponn 17), East Rockingham 22 (Cameron 5). Total Fouls—Luray 20, East Rockingham 11.
JV score: 42-15 East Rockingham