ADA TWP. – While the Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team is disappointed with a 56-35 road loss at Forest Hills Central on Friday, the Rockets think they may have they found an identity.
After being outscored 32-14 in the first half, they abandoned their zone defense and went to a full court man-to-man.
That change paid dividends as Reeths-Puffer was only outscored 24-21 in the second half and forced 14 turnovers over the final 16 minutes.
“I think we found our identity tonight,” said R-P head coach Rodney Walker about the defensive change. “I wasn’t really comfortable with our man-to-man defense, but now I see that we’re a good scrambling team. We can match intensity, and we spotted them a little bit staying in the zone. They had two girls getting hot from the outside.”
R-P's Raquel Walker goes in for a layup. Photo/John Willoughby
Walker thinks he waited too long to make the adjustment and put the loss on himself.
“That was my bad on my end,” the coach said. “I think if we’d have started the game the way we finished it, we’d have had a chance to win. I was stubborn and stayed in it (zone defense) too long.”
The Rangers started the game on a 7-0 run and led 17-7 at the first buzzer.
Freshman Raquel Walker led Reeths-Puffer with four points in the quarter while Grace Tindall added a three-pointer.
R-P Coach Rodney Walker. Photo/John Willoughby
In the second quarter, the troubles continued to snowball for the Rockets, who were outscored 15-7.
Raquel Walker had four more points in the second quarter while Ashlyn David added three.
The Rockets had their strongest quarter of the night in the third, outscoring the Rangers 12-4 to cut the deficit to 36-26.
Raquel Walker had six points while Savannah Lockwood added four and David added two.
R-P's Joslynn Kops looks for a pass. Photo/John Willoughby
The Rockets were unable to get the deficit any lower than 10 points, however, and were ultimately outscored 20-9 over the final eight minutes.
Part of what limited R-P's comeback effort was going 5-for-17 from the free throw line.
“It killed us,” Coach Walker said about the missed opportunities. “If we had hit some of those free throws it would have been a closer game. Especially when we cut it to 10.”
Raquel Walker finished with 17 points for Reeths-Puffer while David added 11.
Forest Hills Central was led by Lexy Scarlato with 21 points.
Walker leads the fast break for the Rockets. Photo/John Willoughby
The Rockets, now 0-2 on the season, will try to get their first win on Saturday when they face Forest Hills Norther at Aquinas College.
Coach Walker is hoping his team now has a better idea of what it needs to do to be successful..
“The fight we showed tonight gives me hope going forward,” he said. “I thought the girls did a great job with defensive intensity, especially in the second half. That has to be our identity going forward.”