The shape of Friday night’s varsity girls basketball James River District showdown between Prince Edward County High School and visiting Goochland High School was changed by a pair of injuries, one suffered Thursday and the other Friday, helping create an opening for a talented Lady Bulldogs team to pull away for a 48-38 victory.

“The last two nights, I’ve seen our season go from one end to another,” Prince Edward Head Coach Carlton Redd said.

During the third quarter of a 56-44 victory over visiting Randolph-Henry High School on Thursday, the Lady Eagles lost their second-leading scorer, junior Ke’Mya Rux, to a knee injury that Redd noted may sideline her for the rest of the season.

“She was right in front of me when it happened, and I just saw my season flash before my eyes,” Redd said.

And then late in the first half Friday, Prince Edward senior center Madison Lehman went down with an ankle injury, and though she was able to come back in the second half, she was experiencing some pain and limitation from the injury.

“We’re not so good that I can lose Rux and Maddie in the same game,” Redd said. “We’re not that good.”

Goochland led 13-3 after the first quarter, 22-18 at halftime, and a 17-5 run in the third quarter pushed its lead to 39-23 entering the fourth.

Senior point guard Da’Mya Harris led the Lady Eagles with 18 points, while Lehman added 12.

There were moments in the fourth quarter in which Harris, while walking the ball down the floor, would look toward Redd, looking for his go-ahead to try to score herself.

“There wasn’t nobody else scoring, so she had to go (try),” the coach said. “She was looking at me (asking) was it OK. Well, yeah it’s OK. We need the points.”

Asked if injuries were the story of Friday’s game, Redd said, “I don’t want to take anything away from Goochland, but yeah.”

Prince Edward notably missed the contributions of Rux, who scored 24 points during the Lady Eagles’ 59-48 road win over the Lady Bulldogs on Jan. 7.

“She’s a real defensive force for us with her athletic ability,” Redd said. “We didn’t have that tonight. We didn’t have that edge that we usually have on defense, because I would have been able to put her on one of those big outside shooters that they have. See, I don’t have that kind of height to be able to go out there to stick that, but I can put Rux on anybody.”

The Lady Eagles (15-2) visited Buckingham County High School (15-4) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Lady Knights, who defeated host Randolph-Henry High School 47-23 on Friday, also defeated visiting Nottoway High School 62-38 on Monday leading up to their big rematch with Prince Edward. The Lady Eagles won the first meeting with Buckingham, 52-50, at home Jan. 9.

The rematch is the last game listed on Prince Edward’s schedule, but there will be some down time before the start of the Virginia High School League Region 2A playoffs, potentially giving Rux enough time to heal, but Redd was not confident of that.

Though he admitted he was not sure, he said, “If I had to bet money, no, I won’t have her.”