Ram girls sweep first two OK Red tilts

By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio

Photo courtesy of Rick Laven

After playing only a single game since December 22, Rockford got back into the swing of things this past week with a home and road contest to open up conference play. The Rams first hosted East Kentwood on Tuesday, January 13 and crushed the Falcons 77-42. They then made the trip to Hudsonville on Friday, January 16 and struggled their way to a tough 48-42 win over the Eagles. The two wins left Rockford at 8-1 on the season and 2-0 in OK Red play.

The game against East Kentwood saw the Rams get off to a rare lethargic start as the Falcons held a 6-2 lead past the halfway point of the opening quarter. But an 11-0 Ram run gave them a 13-6 lead and the quarter ended with a 13-7 Ram lead. Sienna Wolfe and Brooke Hambleton started finding the range from deep in quarter number two and the Rams pushed the lead to 36-21 at the half. Hambleton went three for three from the three-point-line in the opening half to spark the Ram surge. The third quarter saw Rockford outscoring EK 26-10 to really take control of the game as they led 62-31 after three quarters. The final quarter was a formality and the Rams ended up with the 77-42 triumph. Wolfe led the Rams with 23 points while Hambleton finished with 11. Addison Wypych and Kate Higgins both chipped in with nine points and Jordan Mateer contributed six as well.

“I thought we rebounded really well as a team after the slow start,” said Rockford Coach Brad Wilson. “We really got it going there offensively towards the end of the first quarter and never really looked back. I thought the half-court offense was really good tonight after the first quarter. We got a ton of good looks and almost ended up scoring 80 points. We took the best shot for the team and not just the individual almost all game long. East Kentwood was able to get into the lane on us tonight but we were just a little longer than them and really took away a lot of their inside scoring chances. I think you are also starting to see Sienna (Wolfe) starting to get back into form after coming back from that serious knee injury. She is nearly 100% physically and is regaining her confidence. That is huge for us going forward.”

The game against Hudsonville was just an abysmal shooting performance for the Rams for nearly the entire evening. Threes were not falling; mid-range shots were not falling and even layups were an adventure. The Eagles were aggressive all night long on the defensive end and frustrated Rockford time after time. Hudsonville led 14-11 after the first quarter and 24-21 at the break. The Eagles pushed the lead to 30-21 early in the third quarter and prompted Wilson to call a quick timeout. Wypych took the timeout to heart as she proceeded to pour in 16 second half points to key the eventual Ram victory. Wolfe added nine second half points as well. Rockford went on a 9-0 run to quickly knot things up at 30-30. The quarter ended with Rockford holding a 38-35 lead.

The score was tied at 40-40 late I the final quarter but Wypych had the answers at the free throw line to eventually secure the hard earned victory. Wypych and Wolfe combined to go 6-6 at the line in the final quarter. Wypych led Rockford with 24 points while Wolfe ended the evening with 11. Mateer finished with six as well.

“We have got to find a way to come out with more energy at the start of the game,” said Wilson. “Twice this week it took us a while to get going and that is something we are going to talk about and try to find answers as to why this week in practice. We missed a lot of open threes and sometimes that can happen when you are on the road. We really had to dig back into the game defensively and I thought the effort was solid there all night long. We really did a much better job on the boards in the second half and that was also crucial to us getting back into the game. We were fortunate to make our free throws late and that gave us a little bit of a cushion. Addison (Wypych) had the flu all week and that was a gutsy performance by her in the second half to help us get back into the game and eventually get the win.”

The Rams have a busy slate this week as they will first face off in a top-five matchup with Wayne Memorial on Monday at the Special Olympics Complex on 68^th Street at 6:45 P.M. They will then host Grandville at 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, January 20 before traveling to West Ottawa for a 7:00 P.M. game there on Friday, January 23.