‘Other’ Rapp Wins State Girls’ Title



Rappahannock County’s Summer Shackelford (12) is sandwiched between Eastside’s Alexis Carter (11) and Reagan McCoy in this battle for a loose ball.

Rappahannock County’s Summer Shackelford (12) is sandwiched between Eastside’s Alexis Carter (11) and Reagan McCoy in this battle for a loose ball.

Rappahannock County used a 43-27 edge on the backboards as the springboard to a 70-65 win over Eastside, earning the Lady Panthers their first-ever girls’ basketball state championship.

The Lady Panthers’ starting five scored in double digits as they survived a 37-point outing by Eastside’s Azlyn Hammons in the VHSL Class 1 title contest.

RCHS post players Summer Shackelford

(17 points, 10 rebounds) and Chloe Jenkins (13 points, 11 rebounds) registered double-doubles while denying Eastside a chance at its first-ever state crown.

The Lady Panthers shot 53 percent from the field and scored 38 of their points in the paint.

“We kept getting the ball down low,” Rappahannock County coach Jeff Atkins said. “And, our big girls went to work.”

“The stat that stands out to me the most is they had 43 rebounds and we had 27,” Eastside coach Terri Anne Hill Funk said. “The first half we could not pull a defensive rebound to save our lives. … That was the biggest difference for us and we had not had an issue with that all year long. Not a great day to have that problem.”

Rappahannock County (21- 7) never trailed and led by as many as 14 points (36-22) in the second quarter.

But, behind the scoring of Hammons, Eastside chipped away at its deficit and closed the difference to 66-65 with 52.9 seconds remaining.

After a Savannah Loving free throw made it 67-65 with 30 seconds left, Hammons had a 3-pointer rim out.

The Lady Panthers’ Brooke Atkins then converted one-oftwo free throws to make it a 68-65 game with 18.8 seconds remaining.

After Eastside’s Taylor Atkins was off the mark on a potential game-tying 3-pointer, Rappahannock County’s Abigail Atkins scored the game’s final two points from the free throw line.

Rappahannock County, which shot 65 percent from the floor in the final two quarters, also got double figure scoring from Loving (13), Abigail Atkins (13) and Brooke Atkins (11).

Rappahannock County is located in Washington, Va., and is one of the smallest public high schools in Virginia.

“We got a volleyball championship in 2016, a softball one in ’01, scholastic bowl, cheer,” Jeff Atkins said. “But we don’t have a lot of banners. Some individual stuff, but we don’t have a lot. … We’re a very small school. I know we’re all 1A, but we’re probably Half- A.”

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