After a road game win against Bluefield the Lady Rams fall at home against Pitt-Johnstown 80-90 in WVIAC play.
The Lady Rams fought hard throughout the game with being down by 12 during most of the second half to cutting it to an 86-80 Pitt-Johnstown lead with 50 seconds left thanks to senior forward Emily Daniel’s layup.
Emily Daniel led the Lady Rams with 29 points and six rebounds. She shot 10-19 from the field 2-4 behind the arch, and missing one from the line 7-8. Sophomore guard Alex Weakland assisted Daniel with 13 points, five rebounds, and leading the team in steals with four. Sophomore center Gabby Flinchum added 12 points and Sophomore Rachel Johnson had 8 points and leading the team with four assists.
The Lady Rams shot 41.3% 26-63 from the floor, 31.3% 5-16 from behind the arch, and 82.1% 23-28 from the line. The Rams forced 23 turnovers.
On Saturday, the Rams finished on top with a 73-60 win over Alderson Broaddus. Emily Daniel scored her career 1,000 points being the 14th Lady Ram in Shepherd history to achieve this goal. Daniel carried the Rams with 27 points and seven rebounds.
Gabby Flinchum wasn’t far behind scoring 24 points and matching Daniel’s 8 rebounds. Alex Weakland scored eight points, six rebounds, and three assists. Rachel Johnson added seven rebounds. The Rams were perfect from the free throw line 19-19, 0-4 for behind the arch shots, and .466% 27-58 from the field.
Sophomore Rachel Johnson has had a hand in the Rams successful season this year. Johnson has led the team seven times in high scoring, and is placed seventh in conference standing with 38 steals.
When asked from a coaches’ point of view about Johnson role on the team, Coach Ford stated, “Rachel’s role as a scorer for the Rams has been blossoming over the year. Each game she has found new ways that she is capable of scoring against our opponents. As a sophomore, she has been challenged to step up and take that role as a “go-to” scorer. We work on her on seeing opportunities, but she is the one that puts it into effect.”
The Rams are a younger team this year with five freshman and four sophomores. I asked Ford for being such a young team how has the season been so far?
“Heading into season, we knew that our youth would play a factor in our chemistry and consistency. Only two of our returning players averaged more than 15 minutes a game last season and we brought on six new players. Early in the season, we confronted our youth and inexperience head on by talking about it. We used a weekend retreat, classroom sessions, and a lot of game film to work on our chemistry and knowledge. This has helped us win big games like Seton Hill and Fairmont, where we out played and beat the # 4 and #1 teams in the conference at the time. However, as our record and inconsistency shows, we still have room to grow. This team doesn’t give up and you’ll see that in their February fight to win!,” Ford stated.
“I am looking forward to all the rest of our season games, because each game our girls are gaining knowledge, experience, and chemistry to take us into the conference tournament at the end of this month.” said Ford.
The Rams travel to take on the Bobcats of WV Wesleyan Thursday at 6P.M. February 9 is Alumni Day home against Concord at 2P.M. Senior Night will be held February 21 at 5:30P.M. against WV Wesleyan.