The RM girls basketball team won for a second time this season against Wootton with a score of 65-52 at home. After a thrilling victory concluding a 19-point comeback against the Patriots earlier in the season, the Rockets extinguished their opponent’s hope for revenge. This game has improved the team’s record to 13-4.
The start of the game brought some trouble for RM as Wootton intercepted several passes and pulled ahead with the lead. Fortunately for the Rockets, the Patriots’ aggression became a benefit for RM as they were granted with free-throw opportunities to keep the score close. However, Wootton’s early pressing habit threatened Richard Montgomery with turnovers.
The Rockets’ primary asset in keeping the score close was freshman center Nusaibah Rashad, who collected rebounds with ease and relentlessly shot from below until she scored a basket for her team. “It was really nice to see her confidence level, and to see her be really aggressive,” noted Coach Oakes. Rashad totaled 25 points for the game with the help of her teammates, who would pass to her in the paint for the assist. After junior Melanie Osborne usurped the lead from the Patriots on a forceful drive, RM led by a narrow margin of one point with a score of 19-18 at the end of the quarter.
Continuing through the second quarter, the Rockets suffered at the hands of Wootton’s distance shooters who found open shots near the sideline. RM continued to provide the Patriots unearned possessions with a number of miscalculated passes. Luckily, Richard Montgomery’s junior Karon Williams’s unerring and overwhelming defensive coverage evened the amount of turnovers between each team.
Wootton persisted at one basket behind the Rockets’ every shot. Despite lacking size, the Patriots had quick ball-handlers like Katie Gillick, who maneuvered swiftly past the Rockets’ defense towards the basket. After a timeout with 3:15 left on the clock, Osborne racked up a few more foul shots to expand RM’s lead. Junior Kate Schuck recovered the ball and prevented Wootton from taking any last second chances before the half. At the break, the score was 34-30 Rockets.
With each team allowed 10 minutes for reflection and strategy talk before quarter 3, Richard Montgomery centered their discussion on having a better second half. “We felt like we gave up a lot of points in the half, and we really needed to tighten up the defense,” commented Oakes. In the following gameplay, the Rockets would do just that by limiting Wootton’s possessions and catalyzing an offensive rally to reach a more convincing lead.
In the third quarter, the Patriots’ vigorous man-on-man defensive set-up provided a challenge for RM’s exterior shooters. Rashad stepped up once more and collected an ample amount of rebounds to give her team more opportunities to score. As requested, the rearrangement of the Rockets’ defense allowed them to suppress Wootton’s endeavors, which pushed the opponent into trouble with the shot clock. As RM’s success continued on, the Patriots’ shots continued to fall short and the score at the end of the half was 49-34 Richard Montgomery.
Although both teams grew fatigued as the clock wore down, the Rockets continued to build onto their comfortable lead. Players made the wise decision to leave Wootton’s distance shooters uncontested after a drop in their percentages. Instead, RM interiorized their defense to cut down on the shots available within the arc.
Towards the last few minutes of the game, both teams replaced their starters to give more players game experience. The Patriots admitted the defeat in the final moments, making no final efforts to foul the Rockets, although doing so would pose no real challenge, with RM’s stellar free-throw percentages. Finally, the game was won 65-52.
“We just started working as a team more, and we communicated well,” reflected Osborne, the game’s top scorer with 29 points. The Rockets’ second half performance was the difference that allowed them to silence Wootton again for the last time in the regular season.
