The Craig County High basketball teams will have Pioneer District games this week and shouldn’t have any trouble getting them in with temperatures scheduled to rise. The Rockets are opening the boys and girls teams warm up as well.
Last week the Craig girls got one game in, a 53-31 loss to Eastern Montgomery in Elliston. With the loss Craig dropped to 1-11 on the season.
“We came out flat and could never get our momentum going,” said coach Erica Crabtree.
Morgan Underwood and Daileigh Donithan led the Rockets in scoring with seven points each. Kallie Fisher had six points, 10 rebounds and four steals while Madison Underwood had six rebounds. Jenna Boitnotte had six points and five boards.
The boys played East Mont at home that night and dropped a 67-33 decision. Craig trailed by 20 at the half and never could catch up.
“A slow start hurt us,” said coach Ryan Frazier. “Too many turnovers really hurt us as well. It was a bad combination of turnovers and shooting percentage. When we got good looks we couldn’t get them to go.”
Jaycob Wolfe finished with 11 points and Luke Potter had five. Craig struggled at the line, hitting just five of 19 free throw attempts.”
A night later the boys were in Covington to take on the Boys’ Home team and fell 65-53.
“We played much better in this game,” said Frazier. “We started off turning the ball over and had 10 turnovers in the first half. We discussed it at halftime and we had just five turnovers in the second half.”
The Rockets shot 40 percent from the field in this game and had a one point lead at the half, 26-25. It was tight throughout the second half and was still just a two point game with two minutes to go.
“We ended up chasing and fouling to extend the game and they pulled away,” said Frazier. “We limited turnovers in the second half but gave up way too many offensive rebounds. When you give a team several chances to make it on one possession they usually do.”
Talon Ritter led Craig with 22 points, including six three pointers. Wolfe had a dozen, Potter had nine points and Tristan Dooley had seven.
On Friday the Rockets traveled to Highland County and lost a 40-28 game as the Rams swept the season series from Craig.
“We did a great job limiting the turnovers in this game,” said Frazier. “It was a physical battle as it often is up there.”
Poor shooting again was Craig’s downfall, as the Rockets shot just 25 percent from the field and made two of 12 free throws.
“We ended up getting some great looks but couldn’t get them to go down,” said Frazier. “We gave up a few offensive rebounds at crucial times and they made us pay. Had we shot a little bit better or secured a few of those important boards, this game was very tight and anything could have happened.”
The Rockets were scheduled to play at Bath Tuesday looking for their first win after 15 tries. The girls were home Tuesday against Bath, then travel to Giles on Thursday. Both teams will play Parry McCluer Friday with the girls at home and the boys in Buena Vista.
On Saturday the girls are at Bland. The jayvees will open at 1 pm with the varsity to follow.