Written by Emma Grosskopf
The beginning of the winter sports cycle means the kickoff of the RC basketball seasons. The RC men’s and women’s teams have played their first games and are getting into the rhythm of their respective seasons, with many games to go.
Returning for the RC women’s team is senior guard Allison Yeaw, as well as junior forward Victoria Maxwell and several sophomore guards, including Chris Martin and Kenzie Collyer. These are just a couple of the returning players on an overall young team: on a team of 17 athletes, nine of them are freshmen, and Yeaw is the only senior.
The women’s season has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start due to several losses to Ferrum, Piedmont and Birmingham Southern, but the team rallied for a 79-65 win against Salem on Nov. 21, followed up by another win against Bridgewater. On Tuesday, the women’s team lost a tough game against Washington and Lee, but they play again tonight at 7 p.m. in the Cregger Center against Southern Virginia.
The men’s team is made up of several top returners as well, such as two seniors: guard Eli Sumpter and forward Joey Miller, as well as juniors forward Josh Freund and guard CJ Miles. The team is also seeing newcomers such as Jeremy Littlejohn in the post, as well as guard Douglas Elks.
The men’s season started with victories in the Dick Leftwich tournament on the weekend of Nov. 18, against both Bluffton and North Carolina Wesleyan, which ended with an RC victory in overtime to allow the team to win the tournament. These victories were followed by wins against William Peace and Greensboro, but the winning streak ended on Nov. 29 with a loss against Randolph-Macon and another loss last weekend at Methodist. Wednesday saw a big victory at Randolph, and the men’s team play again in an away game on Saturday at 2 p.m
