Raby leads King to win over crosstown rival Virginia Intermont

BY NATE HUBBARD
Bristol Herald Courier
BRISTOL, Tenn. – It was a tense contest.

It just wasn’t between King and Virginia Intermont.

Tornado guard Beth Raby created her own game-in-a-game as she single-handedly kept pace with the Cobras for nearly 30 minutes Saturday night.
When she left the court for the last time with 10:21 remaining, the scoreboard read: VI 28, Raby 27.

The score that’ll go in the record books will be King 65, VI 51, but it was Raby’s bid to outscore the Cobras on her own that kept everyone riveted to the scoreboard.
Everyone, that is, but Raby.
“I actually heard someone yell it from the stands and then my teammates had commented on it,” she said. “I was like, ‘Guys, you’re silly.’ ”

For much of the game, though, Raby beating VI on her own was far from crazy.

Raby poured in 21 points in the first half alone and in fact did top the Cobras’ 19 team points in the game’s opening 20 minutes.

When she left the game, VI hadn’t led her by more than two points – and one of those two-point advantages was at 2-0 in the first few seconds of the game.
VI coach Jaclyn Dickens said Raby is tough to stop when she gets in a rhythm early.

“Once she gets a couple shots in, she’s going to be on fire,” she said.

With King’s leading scorer Ashley Deans remaining out with an injury, Tornado coach Michele Williams said she looked for Raby to help carry the load.

“Having Ashley not play these couple games, she’s had to step up,” Williams said.

Also coming up big for the Tornado on the inside was sophomore Allison Bosse. Bosse scored 13 points and snatched four rebounds in helping fill the void created by Deans’ absence on the interior.

Williams said she was glad to see Bosse being more physical.

“She’s been actually not really shying down from physical contact the last couple games – which is good,” Williams said.

King (12-10) steadily built its lead throughout the night as VI (2-22) was undone by 25 turnovers, including 14 in the first half. The Cobras also struggled to hit shots in the paint, other than senior forward Morghan Arnold who used a nifty spin move on the left block to put in most of her 17 points.

“That’s been kind of our problem here recently in the last few games is putting in the easy shots,” Dickens said. “We got the shots we wanted; we just couldn’t knock them down.”
Raby’s 27 points were two short of her career high, and they came in only 27 minutes.

King emptied its bench late and VI actually outscored the Tornado in the second half, but King never lost its double-digit cushion.

Despite laughing off any notion that she was hoping to outgun VI all on her own, Raby said ending a two-game losing streak while beating King’s local rival made for an enjoyable evening.

“It got us going again – and it didn’t hurt that it was VI.”

MEN
King 111, Virginia Intermont 68

Behind a school-record 19 3-pointers, King overwhelmed VI on Saturday night to claim its 11th victory in 12 games.

The Cobras (1-23) hung with the Tornado’s high-powered, up-tempo offense through the game’s first 11 minutes, trailing only 30-22 when King coach George Pitts called for a timeout.

“I couldn’t tell you what I said, but I’m sure I said quite a bit at that point in particular,” Pitts said.

Whatever it was, the Tornado (15-4) came out of the break on fire as three straight 3-pointers by seniors Elisha Murray (2) and Craig McCargo (1) sparked King on a 24-5 run that blew the game open.

The Tornado reached the 100-point mark with more than eight minutes remaining in the game and their 111 points were just two short of their season-high.
King’s offense clicked throughout the night as 11 players scored, including eight who hit from long range.

“Once everybody starts contributing, then everything’s going good,” Murray said. “Everything’s going smooth.”
Murray led the Tornado with six 3-pointers and 22 points.

“I haven’t been hitting all season, tonight I just finally got into a rhythm,” he said.

Pitts said he was pleased with the way the Tornado pushed the tempo and created steals with their pressure defense.

“I thought we ran really well in the first half,” he said.

The Cobras were led by juniors Wade Bryant and Marquette Knight, who each scored 19 points.

nhubbard@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2543