AHOSKIE – It was a fitting celebration of three careers.

Friday night Ridgecroft School honored Hayes Bryant, Jessica Bolton and April Piland during Senior Night ceremonies.

The three then went out and led the Lady Rams to a 49-17 rout of Tarheel Independent Conference foe Albemarle School.

“It feels good because all three of us did it together,” Bolton said after she led the offensive attack with 12 points. “We played as a team and were able to represent Ridgecroft well.”

The Lady Rams were indeed able to represent their school well, jumping out to a 16-0 lead before the Colts were able to score.

Bryant was the first one who found the net for Ridgecroft, scoring just 25 seconds into the contest. Bolton then added a free throw before Caitlyn Harrison and Bryant hit back-to-back baskets to push Ridgecroft’s lead to 7-0.

Bolton’s three-pointer pushed Ridgecroft’s advantage to 10-0 with 4:14 still to play in the first quarter. Bryant and Harrison added scores to make it 16-0 before Albemarle’s Ashley Taylor scored at the 1:20 mark.

Emily Cooke, the other leading scorer with 12 points, had the final bucket of the first quarter to give Ridgecroft an 18-2 lead after one quarter.

Laurie Cartright scored for Albemarle in the opening minutes of the second quarter, but it would be the only basket the Lady Colts had in the period.

Ridgecroft scored the next 17 points, including five consecutive three-pointers from Piland, Bolton and Cooke that pushed the Lady Rams’ lead to 35-4 at the intermission.

Cooke scored the first four points of the third quarter followed by a Piland hoop that extended the home team’s lead to 41-4.

From there, Albemarle was able to score the next nine points thanks to Taylor, Cartright and Kari Roach, trimming their deficit to 41-13 by the end of the period.

Albemarle scored first in the fourth quarter, but Bryant and Bolton added hoops that pushed Ridgecroft to a 44-15 lead with 4:06 to play.

“The seniors played well and we were able to get solid contributions from everyone,” Rams’ Head Coach Elton Winslow said afterwards.

While Bryant did play, her minutes were limited due to a broken finger. She did, however, contribute nine points in the contest.

Piland had eight during the evening. Taylor led the Lady Colts with six points.

Ridgecroft will be back in action tonight (Tuesday) when they welcome Northeast Academy in another TIC battle.

Lady Rams (49): Jessica Bolton n 12, Emily Cooke n 12, Hayes Bryant n 9, April Piland n 8, Caitlyn Harrison n 6, Bardin Murray n 2

Lady Colts (17): Ashley Taylor n 6, Laurie Cartright n 5, Kari Roach n 4, Courtney Jones – 2