MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer could never get its offense figured out Friday night in an O-K Green Conference opener against Caledonia, and the Rockets dropped a 59-29 decision to the Scots.
The offensive struggles have been unsurprising given the team's lack of experience, but coach Rodney Walker said the team needs to perform better on defense, where the path to success through sheer energy and effort is more navigable, to make up for it.
"We just didn't
do a good job of stopping them from getting to the basket and limiting them to one possession," Walker said. "A lot of those things that
we're trying to clean up (are) realizing that it's a collective
effort to rebound, and it's a collective effort to play defense.
"Our effort has to improve. We have to be able to
match energy on the defensive side of the floor. We cannot win games
without matching that energy. "
The Rockets (2-7, 0-1 O-K Green) did have a good stretch of defensive play early in the second quarter, holding the Scots to two points for the first four minutes after falling behind 15-4 to open the game. Unfortunately, R-P was unable to make much progress against the deficit in that time, and the Scots' Emily Stauffer scored a three-point play to spark a good finish to the second quarter for Caledonia. The visitors ripped off 12 more points in the final 3:22 of the half - fueled by a couple of turnovers the Rockets committed while attempting to inbound the ball - and led 32-13 at halftime.
Caledonia threw an aggressive press defense against R-P's young guards and had some success. What Walker is looking most for from his team on offense, though, is a lack of fear of mistakes. He felt R-P passed up some makeable shots during the game and was too eager to pass the ball.
"We're passing up
shots when we have an open opportunity to make shots," Walker said. "Those different things, you've got to definitely try to improve, and
just build up the confidence in our kids to be able to take those
opportunities...If you make a turnover, it's OK. If you miss a shot, it's OK. We're not going to be perfect in this game."
Freshman Raquel Walker, the coach's daughter, certainly played like the most confident Rocket in the game, making aggressive moves to the basket at times and using her speed and athleticism to be the center of the R-P defense. She struggled to score, but coach Walker isn't surprised that the adjustment to varsity play hasn't always been smooth for her.
"I think that she's growing," coach Walker said. "It's just taking a little time for her to get there. Eventually, I
think she will get there but you know there's some things, some mistakes,
that she really has to clean up."
Walker said dealing with the errors that are expected from a largely new varsity lineup is the biggest key to his team's success the rest of the season.
"When you lose, you learn," Walker said. "One of the things that we were
just trying to do here in the locker room at our end-of-the-game speech is that part of it. Learning how to
keep your head up and moving forward through those mistakes. That's part of
the lessons that we're trying to teach right now."
