JENISON – The goal of any young team is to grow and mature into a solid squad by the time districts roll around.
The Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team took another step in that direction on Friday night, picking up their second straight win with a 50-45 victory over Jenison in an O-K Green conference road game.
A big part of the growth process involves very young players getting comfortable in their roles, and that seems to be happening for R-P sophomore post player Ashlyn David.
She scored 15 points in Tuesday night's victory, then followed it up on Friday with a very strong 24-point performance.
R-P's Ashlyn David powers in for a layup. Photo/Tyler Lirones
“I was very comfortable,” David said. “I trust all my teammates to make the right decisions, and it paid off tonight. I just have to keep working to continue improving. We’re really starting to trust each other, and it’s showing through.”
David was hot from the start against Jenison, pouring in eight points in the first quarter to help the Rockets take a 13-10 lead at the first break.
“We knew from watching film it would happen,” R-P head coach Rodney Walker said about David continually breaking Jenison's full-court press with easy layups. “They didn’t take the press off, so our job was to get the ball to her and let her attack the middle. She took advantage of it and did a great job finishing around the rim tonight.”
David scored an additional eight points in the second quarter while Raquel Walker added four, helping Reeths-Puffer hold a 32-26 halftime lead.
R-P's Grace Tindall takes a shot from 3-point range. Photo/Tyler Lirones
In the third quarter, Walker and David often combined on the pick-and-roll, which helped David score eight points. That, in turn, helped the Rockets extend their lead to 45-37 headed into the fourth.
“They’re starting to click and look for each other,” Coach Walker said about the pick-and-roll combination. “But I think as a whole, we’re getting better as an offensive unit and starting to click. We’re knocking shots down from other people and we’re getting more production.”
With an eight-point lead after three quarters, it seemed like the Rockets were well on their way to a comfortable victory.
However, another lesson young teams often have to learn is how to close out wins.
R-P's Savannah Lockwood launches a shot. Photo/Tyler Lirones
Reeths-Puffer struggled to get its offense going at all in the fourth quarter and allowed Jenison to hang around.
With 4:38 remaining, the Wildcats cut the R-P lead to just 45-44, after starting the quarter on a 7-0 run.
The Rockets never surrendered the lead, however.
Walker hit a layup with 4:17 remaining to extend the lead to 47-44, then the R-P defense stiffened up, holding Jenison to just one point down the stretch and nailing down the road victory.
R-P's Raquel Walker drives toward the bucket. Photo/Tyler Lirones
“That’s part of the problem we have right now,” Coach Walker said. “We have to learn how to finish games and win. Jenison did a much better job rebounding at the end, and that’s what wins games. But we held on tonight.”
Raquel Walker finished with 11 points for R-P.
Reeths-Puffer is now 4-8 overall and 2-2 in the O-K Green conference standings.
The Rockets will next be in action on Tuesday when they travel to Holland for a non-conference clash.