Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
The Rockford girls’ basketball team claimed a pair of home wins last week to move their record to 9-0 on the season. The first contest was against another highly rated squad as the fifth-ranked Buccaneers of Grand Haven came calling on Tuesday, January 9th. Grand Haven found out what every other opponent has learned after taking the floor against the Rams. Points would be hard to come by and the relentless pressure of Rockford would be a tall task to overcome. Rockford went on to claim a 55-38 victory to serve notice on the rest of the state that they will be a tough out as they look to defend their state championship.
“Grand Haven presented us with a little bit of a different style as they have a 6′ 1″ post player who can really do some damage around the rim,” said Rockford Coach Brad Wilson. “It was a really good challenge for us as we prepare for other teams down the road. We are fortunate to have decent size of our own and I thought we did a solid job over the course of the contest defending the post and really putting pressure on their guards. Grand Haven has a very good team, and we were pleased with our ability to overcome the challenges they present.”
Sophomore Sienna Wolfe led Rockford in scoring with 16 points. Junior Anna Wypych had 14 and senior Grace Lyons also hit double figures with 11. Sophomore Kate Higgins fell just short of that stat as she poured in nine points. That quartet combined to score 50 of the 55 team points.
The loss for Grand Haven gave them their first defeat of the season and left them at 8-1 thus far on the campaign.
The Grandville contest was originally scheduled for Friday January 12, but the inclement weather forced the game to be moved up a day. The Bulldogs have struggled so far this year with a new coach and new philosophy and were expected to be over-matched with Rockford. That theory proved true as the Rams cruised to a 61-26 triumph. The 20-point halftime lead for Rockford allowed Wilson to get plenty of playing time for his entire roster in the second half as the Ram lead ballooned to over 40 points in the second half.
“Grandville came out and decided they were going to clog up the middle from the start of the game,” said Wilson. “We really moved the ball around well and got multiple open three-point shots. We ended up with eight made threes in the first half and had the game pretty well in hand by the break. I give tremendous credit to our team that we were able to take advantage of what defensive challenges they presented and still play great defense on our end for the whole game. We forced 26 turnovers for the game and made things very difficult for their guards.”
Wolfe again led Rockford with 21 points and had four triples as well. Lyons and Wypych both added 13 points to the cause with Lyons knocking down three treys and Wypych adding a pair.
This week will see Rockford playing their third consecutive home contest when Hudsonville comes calling on Tuesday, January 16th. Rockford then goes on the road for the first time in league play when they travel to face another top-ten opponent in East Kentwood. East Kentwood will enter the fray with an 8-1 mark and are also perfect in OK Red action.
“East Kentwood will press you from the opening tip and never let up,” said Wilson. “Their goal is to speed you up to a pace where you are uncomfortable and try to capitalize on your mistakes. They are extremely athletic and have added the ability to knock down outside shots with much greater regularity. This will represent another challenging game for our team, and we will have to perform at a high level to come out on top.”
