By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
The girls’ basketball team from Rockford travelled to Grand Haven on Friday, January 31 to take on the Buccaneers in a battle between teams ranked in the top three in the state in various ranking services. When the dust had settled it was Rockford on top by the final score of 45-34 to move to 15-1 on the season and 6-0 in the OK Red. Both of Grand Haven’s losses have come at the hands of Rockford as they dropped to 12-2 overall and 4-2 in OK Red play.
The game was a battle of odd and even quarters as the Rams absolutely dominated the first and third quarters and Grand Haven got the better of things in the second and fourth quarters. Fortunately for the Rams, their dominant stretches far outweighed what Grand Haven was able to do in the even numbered quarters. Rockford posted margins of 17-2 in the opening eight minutes and 14-4 in the third stanza.
“I was really proud of the way we came out and executed to start the game,” said Rockford Coach Brad Wilson. “But Grand Haven is an excellent team and really caused us some problems with their length in that zone in the second quarter and we struggled at times to settle down. A lot of our wounds at that time were self-inflicted and we just needed to regroup and focus on the things that we can control. We really came out in that third quarter and got some buckets and finally forced them out of that zone and took control again. I thought we had a chance to put them in a really deep hole at that point but to their credit they never gave up and I guess that is why they are rated as high as they are.”
Rockford jumped out to the huge first quarter advantage thanks to a familiar formula, suffocating defense and pin point shooting from senior standout Anna Wypych. Wypych poured in ten points in the opening quarter to highlight the team’s 17-point output. Defensively the Rams forced multiple turnovers while deflecting passes and never allowed Grand Haven to get comfortable by any stretch in the opening eight minutes. Rockford has excellent height across the board but Grand Haven features a 6’4″ sophomore center and has great size in their entire starting lineup. But it was the much scrappier Rams who dominated the boards for almost the entirety of the game. That proved crucial in the final outcome for Rockford. The Rams had one possession where they gathered five consecutive offensive rebounds that only ended when junior Kate Higgins was fouled on a putback.
Grand Haven opened the second quarter on a ten-point run of their own to cut it to a 17-12 game and managed to keep the margin static for the balance of the half. Junior Jordan Mateer scored a late hoop for the Rams to make it a 24-17 game at the half. But the third quarter was all Rockford with Wypych pouring in nine more points to highlight the offense. Defensively, it was jumior Audrey Muterspaugh, Mateer and Higgins forcing steals, deflections and mayhem for the entire quarter for the Rams. By the time it was over, Rockford held a comfortable 38-21 lead going into the final eight minutes.
Grand Haven made a small run at the lead late but it was far too little and far too late as the Rams emerged with the impressive victory. In addition to the 24 points from Wypych, Mateer tossed in seven points and Higgins and Freshman Addison Wypych added five points each.
“We really challenged the girls to win an OK Red championship because they don’t just happen,” said Wilson. “You have to, you know, before the game, during the game and for all four quarters play your best. And they answered the bell tonight in a decisive manner. Most other teams don’t have a girl that size at the top of their zone to cause you problems and other teams are going to try and replicate that. But to our credit we started to break it down later. They know us well and we know them well and it was just a very good game between two very good teams.”
The Rams will host Holt on Tuesday, February 4 before traveling to East Kentwood for another key OK Red game on Friday, February 7 in action next week.