MUSKEGON TOWNHIP — The final night of the girls basketball regular season was one of celebration at Reeths-Puffer High School on Friday.
Reeths-Puffer celebrated Senior Night, Veteran’s Night and a 59-34 win over Holland that brought a pair of milestone moments.
With the win, the Rockets clinched the O-K Green conference championship outright, finishing with a 13-1 league record. This is the program’s second straight title, but last year’s was shared with Mona Shores.
Winning the league outright was an important goal for the Rockets.
“We’ve been working so hard this season. It’s been a huge goal of ours to get that ourselves because we shared it last year,” said senior Sophia Hekkema. “Ariel (Walker) and I, we won it our freshman year, too. To have that three times and to win outright this year, it’s awesome.”
R-P's Sophia Hekkema gets a hug from her dad after reaching the 1,000-point career mark. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“That is huge - I can’t put into words how important it is for us,” R-P Coach Rodney Walker said. “For Ariel and Sophia Hekkema, that’s their third conference championship and they’ve won a district championship. To me, that is extremely huge for them to have that kind of history here at the school. It kind of sets the culture for what the program is going to look like moving forward.”
In addition to the team achievement, Hekkema recorded a major personal milestone Friday, becoming just the second girls basketball player in R-P history to score 1,000 career points.
The senior standout said reaching the milestone on Senior Night was on her mind coming in.
“It was kind of my goal,” she said. “I felt like Senior Night would be such a great night. It’s our Veteran’s Night, too, so everybody’s here. I thought it would be such an amazing environment and atmosphere around me. I just felt a lot of love and support from everybody. It was just amazing.”
Hekkema reached the milestone on a basket with 2:53 to play in the third quarter. Coach Walker called a time out and presented Hekkema the game ball as she celebrated with her teammates.
Hekkema rises above a Holland defender for a layup. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“It was a huge moment for me, my parents, my dad especially,” said Hekkema, who found her parents in the crowd during the time out to thank them. “I got kind of emotional. I didn’t think I was going to. It was just amazing to share that with my teammates.”
“I’m extremely proud of her,” Coach Walker said. “Considering some of the things she had to battle through this year and still was able to stay focused enough to make sure that happened for herself, I’m just really, really happy for her.
“There’s a lot of players that are extremely good that don’t get 1,000 points. I don’t care what program you play in, when something like that happens, that’s unbelievably huge.”
Coach Walker also mentioned the big crowd that turned out to help celebrate the program’s big night.
“A lot of people came out to celebrate the girls,” he said. “For a girls program, that’s huge when you can get some community support. I’m extremely happy with how the community showed up tonight to support our girls.”
R-P's Brooklynn Tornes, surrounded by defenders, goes high for a layup. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Reeths-Puffer has now won 14 straight games as the season turns to the state tournament. The Rockets, 17-5 overall, will play Coopersville on the Broncos’ home court in the first round of districts on Monday.
“We’ve got to accept the target being on our back,” Walker said of the win streak. “Everybody’s going to play us like it’s their last game. I think we’ve just got to match intensity, play at our own pace, and control the tempo of the game. I think we should be OK moving down the road.”
Reeths-Puffer led 20-7 at the end of the first quarter, including a 15-0 run to end the frame. Ariel Walker led the way with nine points in the quarter, followed by Billie Tryska with eight.
The Rockets led 34-22 at halftime. Hekkema scored seven in the second quarter. Walker’s 13 points and Hekkema’s nine led the Rockets in the first half.
Hekkema did most of her scoring in the third quarter, putting up nine points. Reeths-Puffer had a 14-6 edge in the third and led 48-28 heading to the final quarter.
Hekkema finished with 19 points to lead the Rockets. Ariel Walker, who is nearing the 1,000-point mark herself, finished with 14. Brooklynn Tornes was in double figures with 11 points while Tryska finished with eight.
