By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
The strength of the Girls’ basketball team at Rockford, outside of their stingy defense, has been the perimeter shooting up and down the roster. But in the state final showdown between the Rams and Belleville at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on Saturday, March 22, the Rams suffered through an almost unfathomable shooting display that saw them sitting at 0 for 18 from deep late in the final quarter. They would finish 3-21 as they hit their final three triple attempts in the game and got back to within 57-47 in the final minute. But it was far too little, far too late to overcome a hot shooting Belleville squad that put up prolific shooting numbers all game long. The Tigers went 20-36 for the game (55.6%) and 8-15 on threes (53.3%) and 13-14 from the line (92.9%). As a comparison the Rams shot 40%, 14.3% and 81.3% for the same three categories.
The Rams did force 17 turnovers defensively so they had their chances, but nothing was dropping from the perimeter. Belleville decided to hedge on the Rockford long ball and take their chances on letting Rockford get their opportunities with the post-up game of the Rams. Rockford had early success as all five of their baskets in the opening quarter came via post-ups. But after that it was the Anna Wypych show for Rockford. The Rams scored only 17 points combined in the second and third quarters with Wypych accounting for 12 of them. She finished her amazing career with 26 points on the night. Kate Higgins scored six points for the Rams, but nobody else had more than four.
“Super proud of them (Rockford) and the fact that we were able to get to the final game of the season,’ said Rockford Head Coach Brad Wilson. “We came up a little bit short, but our three seniors, (Wypych, Desirae Donley and Aubree Villareal) are the face of our program and we wouldn’t be anywhere without them. As far as the game was concerned, I felt like we had a pretty good game plan but Belleville is a really good team and hat’s off to them. I think they are coached really well and they have great athletes. Down the stretch they just seemed like they made all of the big shots.”
The Rams were down 18-14 after the first quarter as Belleville had an answer every time Rockford made a run. Rockford tied the game at 12-12 on a Jordan Mateer drive and finish, but Belleville cored six of the final eight points in the quarter to take an early lead that they would never relinquish. The second quarter was a slog for both teams as the defenses clamped down and nothing was falling either way. An 8-6 Tiger edge made it a 26-20 Belleville lead going into the half. Rockford has answered the bell on every occasion this season when the third quarter began and that was the fervent hope of the partisan Ram crowd that turned out in support.
Wypych made it a 30-25 game early in the third quarter, but that was the point where Marquette commit Se’Crette Carter showed her perimeter shooting prowess for the Tigers by hitting consecutive threes to push the lead back to nine at 36-27. The Rams tried everything to get back into the game as they went to a full court trap that forced several turnovers but also gave up a few easy baskets while the Rams continued in vain to try and hit from long range. The lead reached 42-31 after three quarters. Rockford managed to get it down to ten several times in the final quarter but it never fell below that mark.
“What we accomplished, the experiences that we had and championships that we won and the process,” said Wilson. Just trusting in that process and it got done. We had not won a district in seven years when I got here and now, we have been here four years in a row and won a state championship in 2023. There is a lot to be really proud of and I know that tomorrow morning the sun is going to come up. We saw what is out there and all the Ram Nation out there. There is not a better place to live or raise a family than Rockford. So I am just going to try and hold onto that today and start looking at the future tomorrow.”
Rockford ends the season at 27-2 but loses only two players out of the regular rotation (Wypych and Donley). They also return the members of a junior varsity team that lost only a single game and a freshmen squad that went undefeated. So, the cupboard is far from bare for Rockford. Belleville finished the season at 28-1 and will bring back sophomore sensation Sydney Savoury and Carter in an effort to defend their title next year.
