West Bloomfield grounds Falcons to repeat as Rochester Holiday Classic champs

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

ROCHESTER HILLS — Having a star player can work for or against any basketball team.

With West Bloomfield following the lead of junior point guard Sydni Davis, the Lakers won a pair of games convincingly this week, including topping Rochester, 44-27, in the finals Friday of the Rochester Holiday Classic.

While Davis was her usual self with a fine floor game, scoring 14 points with seven rebounds, six steals and five assists, she was quick to get her teammates involved to win the tournament for the second straight season — both title games coming against the host Falcons.

“I think that can work both ways,” offered West Bloomfield coach Steve Larkin. “Teams can come out and key on Sydni Davis and nobody else steps up or we have a bunch of players contributing. I thought we did a good job of getting a lot of players involved.”

Ashley Zeigler chipped in with 10 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Jenny Cabaravdic added eight points and nine rebounds Kheri Motley had eight points and eight rebounds and Melissa Christenson had eight rebounds for the Lakers (4-2).

West Bloomfield had to fight tooth and nail for a 21-17 halftime lead and had to overcome a dismal 9-for-33 shooting performance in the first half.

The Lakers opened up the third quarter with a quick 15-2 run to blow the game open. West Bloomfield led 38-21 by the end of the third quarter and never allowed Rochester to gain back any momentum.

“I thought first half we just didn’t play our basketball in the first half,” said West Bloomfield coach Steve Larkin.”You have to give credit to Rochester. They came out and played hard in the first half. The second half we got our press going a little bit and we turned some things around.”

Rochester (2-4) didn’t help its own cause by shooting just 10-for-47 from the floor while converting only 4-of-15 free throw attempts.

“Early in the year, we didn’t know how to finish a game. Before we would crumble,” said Rochester coach Adam Sheldon. “Now we are playing better. West Bloomfield just went on that one run that took us out of the game and that was their run in the third quarter. We played hard until the end.

“(West Bloomfield has) great team speed. We knew they were going to try to leak out,” continued Sheldon. “ I think in the first half, we did a pretty good job containing them. I think our half court defense was good. I knew they were going to the press. They got a couple turnovers, got a couple of buckets and gained some momentum.”

Anne Tucker, a transfer from Texas, led Rochester with seven points. Aubrey Konal added six points and three steals, and Lindsey Larivee had six points and four rebounds for the Falcons., who committed 21 turnovers and shot only shot just 10-for-45 from the floor.

Both teams traded off nine points in the first quarter, with West Bloomfield going on a 12-8 spurt in the second quarter to build their four-point halftime lead.

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Tags: Basketball, girls basketball, High School Girls Basketball, prep girls basketball, Rochester Girls Basketball, Rochester Holiday Classic

Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester, Top Stories