By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
After challenging themselves over the course of the season against a multitude of teams ranked well inside the top ten of multiple divisions, Rockford finally came to a week of matchups against a couple of teams that had only one win between them on the season. First on the docket was a winless Byron Center team in a contest that finally took place on Thursday, January 25 after a pair of weather delays. The game turned out pretty much as expected as they cruised to a 52-9 victory. That was followed up by a contest at Rockford on Friday against a one-win Panther team. This one ended up with an even larger margin as Rockford won 71-17.
“We were really shooting the ball well tonight (West Ottawa) and we usually do at home,” said Rockford Coach Brad Wilson. “It was really nice to see the ball go through the nets for so many girls. West Ottawa is in a little bit of a rebuilding situation but I was really proud of how our team came to play from the start tonight. I am going to continue to push to get our team to play to our standards every night. It is really nice to see that much balanced scoring and to see the team sharing the ball and continue to get contributions from basically the entire team. It was great to get so much playing time for everyone on our roster the last two nights. They are at practice every day and work their tails off. They are obviously talented kids and that was probably the best they have played collectively all year.”
Rockford got off to a great start as they scored the first 27 points of the game against West Ottawa. That lead grew to 49-17 at the half and the Rams played their reserves for basically the entirety of the second half. After a 10-10 third quarter the Ram reserves showed their mettle by outscoring the Panthers 12-0 to make the final score 71-17. Eight different Rams hit triples in an incredible display of team shooting prowess. Rockford had eight triples in the opening quarter as they entire starting five all hit at least one led by Anna Wypych with three.
Anna Wypych led the Rams with 20 points in playing just a few seconds over half of the game. Junior Annika Drollema came off the bench and was dominant in tossing in 13 points while dominating the final quarter. Freshman Addison Wypych joined her sister in double figures with 10 and junior Audrey Muterspaugh ended up with nine on a trio of three-pointers. Muterspaugh also had a great game against Byron Center with 12 points as she continues to improve by leaps and bounds for the Rams.
“Audrey (Muterspaugh) was five for six from the field on Thursday and I am not sure she missed a shot tonight,” said Wilson. “She also had seven steals and four assists on Thursday and really piled up some stats in both categories tonight too. She is really starting to produce for us. She is an absolute breath of fresh air for us and we were not really sure what we were going to do with that spot when Sienna (Wolfe) got hurt. She just really, really took advantage of that time and has gotten better and better every night. The entire coaching staff is really proud of her.”
Anna Wypych led Rockford against Byron Center with 16 points in very limited playing time again. Rockford led this game 39-2 at the half and again played their backups for the entire second half basically. Muterspaugh had the aforementioned 12 points and junior Kate Higgins tossed in ten for the Rams in the decisive victory.
The wins left the Rams at 5-0 in OK Red play and 14-1 on the season. They have only a single game next week but it is a big one. The Rams will travel to Grand Haven on Friday, January 31 in a battle between a pair of teams ranked in the top five in the state. It is also a battle of supremacy in the OK Red with the Buccaneers standing at 4-1 in league play.
