It was a tough night for the Randolph-Henry High School girls basketball teams as the Buckingham Knights came to play in their 25-11 junior varsity win and 54-20 varsity victory.

The Lady Statesmen teams could hardly keep up with Buckingham’s quick pace and on-point shooting.

The R-H JV team dropped to 0-11 with the loss, while the varsity team dropped to 1-10 overall.

“We haven’t been in full strength since the last time we played Buckingham,” said Randolph-Henry JV girls coach Sandy Mayhew. “I just got one more back off an injury and another girl is still on an injury. So, tonight we were still down a player … and, turnovers killed us tonight.”

The JV girls got off to a slow start and didn’t score until the second quarter. At halftime, the team only had two points on the board.

The second half saw more action out of the team, as they notched nine points on the board. However, it was not enough to slow down the Knights, who continued to hit shot after shot.

Anisha Marable led the JV team with three points. Tajalin Arvin Watson, Tykeria Banks, Nikenya Black and Alexis Wilmoth contributed with two points apiece.

“We are just young,” Mayhew said. “We have four sophomores and four freshmen. We are short and we can’t help that. But, we are improving each game.”

After finishing the first half with only seven points, the varsity girls saw a glimmer of hope in the final quarter, when they started clicking with the basket and nailing every shot. But, their rally came too late in the game to turn things around for the team.

Cymirra Shuford led the Lady Statesmen with 11 points. Adrianne Nelson, Leolivia Stanford, Tehya Pugh and Kiera Dodd finished with two points each. Tyra Randolph rounded out the score with a point.

“My girls are young,” said varsity coach Michael Goode. “We are definitely working on fundamentals daily to get better.”

The Lady Statesmen teams will return to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Nottoway High School. The JV team will tip off at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity will begin at 7 p.m.

“We are going to work on a lot of defense, quick passes and trying to get the ball up the court (for our next games),” Mayhew said.