COOPERSVILLE - When asked if he had ever coached a team in the past than won 15 games in a row, Rodney Walker said yes indeed.
The Reeths-Puffer girls basketball coach pointed back to the 2018-19 season, his final year leading the Muskegon High School girls.
That year the Big Reds lost their first two games of the season, improved to 4-3, then rattled off 15 straight wins before finally losing to Southfield Arts and Technology by four points in the Division 1 state semifinals.
His current R-P squad is on a similar path. After starting the season with a 3-5 mark, the Rockets have now won an amazing 15 games in a row following Monday’s easy 63-26 victory over Coopersville on the Broncos’ home court in the opening round the local Division 1 district tournament.
R-P's Billie Tryska unleashes a shot against Coopersville. Photo/Jeremy Clark
So could that mean this year’s Rockets might be just as good, and could go just as far, as that Muskegon team that missed the state finals by a mere two buckets?
Walker refused to take that bait.
“I think it’s dangerous to do that,” Walker said. “I don’t want to make comparisons, and I definitely don’t want to make any predictions. I am one of those humble people who understands that it’s one second, one minute, one day at a time.”
Monday’s victory put Reeths-Puffer, now 18-5 on the season, in Wednesday’s district semifinal round at Kenowa Hills High School at 7 p.m. The Rockets will play either Grand Rapids Union or Kenowa Hills.
R-P's Sophia Hekkema battles toward the bucket. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Grand Haven, which defeated Mona Shores in another first-round game on Monday, will play powerful Muskegon on Wednesday in the first semifinal game at Kenowa Hills at 5:30 p.m.
While there is certainly no way to tell how far the Rockets might extend their season, with tough opponents at every step of the tournament, they seem to have developed one very necessary quality for a champion – the self-confidence of knowing they can turn it on and take control of games.
That happened on Monday against Coopersville, when R-P played a little sluggish in the first quarter and found themselves only leading the Broncos 15-12 headed into the second.
Then the Rockets went to work, outscoring Coopersville 23-1 in the second quarter and 18-5 in the third, and cruising to the 37-point victory with a running clock in the fourth.
R-P's Jenna Terpstra (4) works through defensive traffic. Photo/Jeremy Clark
R-P’s two big senior scorers were in prime form, with Ariel Walker pumping in 22 points, including four three-pointers, and Sophia Hekkema adding 13 points.
Junior Brooklynn Tornes and senior Billie Tryska both added nine points for R-P.
Hekkema and Irelyn Niklasch each pulled down eight rebounds while Tryska grabbed six. Tornes had four assists while Hekkema dished out three.
“They are playing with a level of confidence that we are definitely going to need,” Coach Walker said about his players. “Seeing the ball going through the basket consistently, like we have been seeing in the last couple of weeks, is a very good sign.”
