MUSKEGON — A second-quarter scoring drought kept Reeths-Puffer from coming away with an O-K Green Conference win Friday night against Mona Shores, as the Sailors won instead, 40-28.
After a quick start by Mona Shores, R-P (5-12, 3-4 O-K Green Conference) rallied to take its first lead of the game, 11-9, on a Raquel Walker three-pointer late in the first quarter. However, the Rockets didn't score again until Savannah Lockwood drained her own three nearly eight minutes later. While Shores only led 16-14 at that point, the Sailors' Lauren Phillips hit a trey in response, and the Rockets never got that close again.
"I think (if) we started putting the ball in the basket, the game would
have been different," R-P coach Rodney Walker said of the second quarter. "We had a lot of shots. We got shot attempts. The ball just didn't go down for us like it did Mona Shores."
Walker said he was impressed with his team defensively, but the Sailors were equally effective on that side of the ball, thanks in part to the rebounding prowess of twin sisters Laynie and Maddie Russell. When Shores switched to a zone defense in the second quarter, R-P's ballhandlers seemed unable to create good shots, leading to the scoring drought.
"We're getting there. We've just got to put four quarters together now," Walker said. "The discipline is coming. We tried to make sure they
understood the triple threat, meaning when you catch the ball, you don't
have to put it down on the floor automatically. Catch it and just scan to see what's going on. I thought they did a great
job of that in the first quarter.
"We were trying to run a man-to-man offense against their zone, which is
more of a freelance offense. I thought we got shots, we just didn't
really
hit shots."
The Rockets tried to create some transition opportunities off defensive stops, but Walker credited Mona Shores with cutting off many of those chances. R-P also struggled hitting layups. Walker said if a girls team can play defense and hit layups, they stand a great chance to win any game, and the Rockets did the first one very well - just not the second.
While the outcome was bitter, the young Rockets are gaining confidence, Walker said. He feels his team is one no opponent will be pleased to see by tournament time, though the Rockets will need to keep working in order to pull off the upsets needed to threaten for a district title.
"Nobody's going to want to see us in March," Walker said. "I think we'll definitely
put some things together."
Raquel Walker tied with Laynie Russell for the game high in points, with each player scoring 13.
