GIRLS BASKETBALL: Stoney Creek turns up the pressure to deflate Rochester
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
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ROCHESTER HILLS — In recent years, Rochester Stoney Creek’s bread and butter has been stifling defense on the basketball court.
That was on full display Friday night, as the Cougars made their debut in the annual Crosstown Showdown at Oakland University’s O’rena.
Stoney Creek also continued to put points on the board and netted a 57-38 OAA crossover victory over rival Rochester to claim the Rochester City Championship for the eighth time in nine seasons. The Cougars, who are averaging 53.5 points an outing after averaging only 37 points last season, also own a win over Rochester Adams this season.
“This is at least four. I would say it’s probably eight of the last nine. When I was (junior-varsity head coach), we were city champs, so that’s at least seven.” said Stoney Creek coach Kellen James.
It marked Stoney Creek’s long-awaited appearance in the Crosstown Showdown event. In the previous 11 seasons of the annual Showdown for girls basketball, which started in January of 2007 for the boys and 2008 for the girls, always featured Rochester and Rochester Adams squaring off at OU. Now the three schools will rotate with Adams missing this year and Rochester sitting out next year.
“That was one of the things when I took the job was that I wanted to see us in it, because we’re just as important as the other two schools, and record-wise, we’ve been one of the best teams in the city for the last few years. It’s important that we were in it,” said James. “When we got the news last year, it was awesome. It was almost a year ago when we found out.”
Rochester Stoney Creek senior guard Megan Solek drives past Rochester junior guard Anna Winkler during Friday’s Crosstown Showdown at Oakland University. Courtesy Photo | Ken Swart, Swart Photography
The Cougars outscored the Falcons in all four quarters, opening up with a 16-8 run and never allowing Rochester to close to less than six points the rest of the way. Stoney Creek wreaked havoc on the Falcons the whole night, forcing a season-high 37 turnovers — 24 in the first half — and rarely allowed Rochester to find any rhythm.
“You know what? It’s funny. We’ve always been defensive-minded, defensive minded, and I pulled my head out of the sand this summer and said ‘We gotta start scoring some points.’ Throughout the year, our defense kind of struggled a little bit — we were scoring more, but there were more possessions. I was never comfortable, because it (the score) wasn’t in the 30s. It was in the 50s, which made me worry,” James said. “This week, we really focused on getting back to our roots defensively with our press and doing what we’re supposed to do, and play out how our program plays. Today we kind of showed that. We did it Tuesday against North Farmington, and we just got better and better today.
“We really worked hard on our shooting and taking the ball to the basket. I think we’ve been a lot better offensively than last year,” added James. “But we still play good defense. I was pleased with the way we caused turnovers and frustrated them with our press.”
Rochester (5-6) used a 9-3 run to close the gap down to 23-17 with 2:35 remaining in the second frame. A technical foul following jump-ball situation gave the Cougars (8-4) the ball back and they closed with a 7-2 spurt for a 30-19 lead at the half.
Stoney Creek went on an 11-5 run to open the third quarter, good for a 41-24 advantage, and eventually held a 46-29 lead by the end of the third quarter. Rochester never seriously threatened in the second half.
Junior guard Lily Dipanni led the Cougars with a fine floor game that included a game-high 20 points, seven rebounds and six steals. Senior forward Emily Eckhout added 12 points, senior forward Mariana St. Louis followed with eight points, five steals and four assists, and senior guard Megan Solek had five points, seven steals and seven rebounds for the Cougars.
“Lily is such an underrated player,” smiled James. “she hasn’t played AAU before, although she will this year, and she does so much out on the court for us. She’s so old school, playing three sports. I think she’ll start getting some good looks (by colleges).”
Stoney Creek finished 16-for-23 from the foul line (70 percent) to overcome a cool 31.1 clip from the field (18-for-58).
Defensively, the Cougars held the Falcons to only 31 shot attempts from the floor (12-for-31 shooting) and never trailed, opening the game with a 10-0 run. Stoney Creek forced Rochester into turnovers on the Falcons’ first eight possessions.
Rochester, once a state powerhouse program just a decade ago, finished just 2-19 last season and is coming off eight straight losing seasons. The Falcons had their four-game win streak snapped, but coach Jeff Haney, who returned to the Rochester sidelines after a decade-hiatus as head coach, saw some silver linings.
“Even though we had the turnovers, and ball-handling was our main problem over the summer and in games this season, we still saw a lot of positives,” said Haney. “I am actually pleased because after being down early we did come back on them and we played hard. We’re 5-6 now and we’ve made a lot of progress. We had won four in a row and we’re in first in the (OAA Blue Division). After winning only a couple of games last year, we’ve made some strides.”
Junior guard Anna Winkler had nine points off the bench to lead Rochester. Junior forward Laura Kucera added seven points, sophomore guard Megan Lorenzo had six points and five steals, senior guard Tori Hawkins contributed six points and four rebounds, and sophomore center Ananya Rangarajian followed with three points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for the Falcons.
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