Recommend This StoryClem's 17 points propel Strasburg
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By Dennis Atwood - sports@nvdaily.com
STRASBURG -- Strasburg senior forward Brandy Clem made the most of Page County's numerous fouls. Clem made 13 of 18 free-throw attempts on her way to a game-high 17 points to lead the Rams to a 52-38 nondistrict girls basketball win over Page County on Saturday night. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for Strasburg.
The Rams scored slightly less than half of their points at the charity stripe, going 25-for-39, while the Panthers were 12-for-24 from the line. The victory avenged the Rams' 42-36 loss to the Panthers on Dec. 9.
Clem also grabbed 11 boards and had three steals.
"We were really hurting, so we just pulled it together this time," Clem said. "We really needed the win coming out of a couple of losses. At the beginning of the third quarter, [Strasburg coach Joel Morgan] just told us to come out and not to slack off, and we didn't, so we pulled out the win.
"We saw a lot of open people and made a lot of good passes, which we don't normally do. We've really been working on that in practice, so I think it really paid off."
Page County (4-13, 0-9 Shenandoah) held a 12-11 lead at the end of the first period. Junior guard Caitlin Viafora hit a 3-pointer, and sophomore guard Morgan Andrews came off the bench to score the Panthers' last two field goals of the frame.
Kenzy McKelvey drained Strasburg's (6-10, 2-6 Bull Run) only trey of the game, and Mikala Alsberry (eight points) made her only two free throws of the game to contribute to the Rams' opening tallies.
Viafora (seven points) and Dakota Dean picked up their third fouls in the second period and had to go to the bench, unhinging the Panthers, who didn't score until just over five minutes had elapsed. The Panthers had only three points in the frame, until sophomore guard Morgan Andrews (team-high 13 points) hit a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining.
The Rams doubled the Cougars second-period offense, led by six-points from junior guard Kasey Fauber and a put-back and a free throw by Clem, giving Strasburg a 23-18 halftime lead.
"I think the turning point in the whole game was the second quarter," Panthers coach Ralph Viafora said. "We out-scored them in the first [quarter] and in the second quarter we had a few kids in foul trouble and only ended up putting up six [points].
"But our kids battled. [Strasburg] just put in more shots than us and they got to the line 40 times to our 25 and, to me, that's one of the big differences of the game."
Clem turned up her game a couple of notches in the second half, scoring 12 points, all from the charity stripe on 12-for-16 shooting, and grabbing eight of her 11 boards after the intermission.
The Rams kept the defensive clamps on in the third period, limiting the Cougars to seven points on 1-for-8 field goal shooting and 5-for-8 on free-throws.
The fourth period was mainly a Strasburg parade to the foul line. The Rams went 12-for-18 to seal the win.
"I thought we played well," Morgan said. "We were able to do a pretty good job at the free-throw line, which I thought was big. And I thought we played well on the defensive end.
"I told our kids before we came out tonight, that we needed a win bad. And now we get back into our district schedule this week, going to Manassas Park. I thought it was big for us to get a win before we did that."
Strasburg has six games remaining on its regular season schedule, all against Bull Run district foes, as they seek to improve on their sixth-place position among the eight teams.
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