GIRLS BASKETBALL: Falcons soar past Adams, claim 10th straight victory
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — Rochester girls basketball is definitely back.
The unranked Falcons continued their hot streak on the court Friday by rolling past rival Rochester Adams 48-25 in the annual Crosstown Showdown at Oakland University’s O’Rena.
Rochester (12-2, 9-0) remained atop the OAA White Division standings and swept the Highlanders in regular season play for the first time since 2007-08.
Rochester is off to its best start in 14 seasons and has now won 10 straight games. The last time the Falcons won 10 straight was in 2007-08 when they entered the state tournament ranked No. 1 in Class A and were upset in the state quarterfinals in overtime by Saginaw Arthur Hill. Rochester finished a school-best 24-2 that season.
Although Rochester third-year coach Bill Thurston anticipated a quality season, the Falcons’ dominating efforts as of late has the coaching staff quite optimistic for the near and distant future.
“I knew with the two freshmen coming in and the fact we had all of those athletic guards that we could be good. But I didn’t expect we’d be this good,” admitted Thurston, a 1990 Rochester grad and former standout at the school. “I think we’re really starting to come together. We’re playing really good defense, the freshmen are leading the way (on the boards) and we haven’t even been shooting it all that well. We have a lot still toward on, and the shooting will come.”
Rochester finished just 31 percent from the floor (17-for-55) and were a torrid 11-for-24 from the foul line (45.9 percent). Still the Falcons were able to pull away from Highlanders in the second half.
Rochester swarmed the Adams backcourt all night in one of its best efforts of the campaign, forcing a season-high 31 turnovers while holding the Highlanders to just 16.7 percent shooting from the floor (7-for-42) and 25 percent shooting from three-point range (4-for-20).
“That’s kind of what we’ve kind of laid our hats on is our defense,” offered Thurston. “We try to keep teams right around 25-27 points a game. We’ve held (seven) teams to under 25 points this season. It helps me as a coach that we have 5-6 potential college soccer players on this team, being able to put the pressure on teams with that athleticism. The thing about it is they want it. They want to play that type of defense. And then we have the two freshmen inside blocking shots and getting a lot of rebounds — it makes it fun.”
The Falcons’ guard and defensive pressure enabled them to swipe 20 passes on the night against Adams, while on the interior Rochester took advantage of its height advantage.
Rochester’s 6-foot freshmen duo of point forward Kiley Robertson and center Alice Max was too much for Adams to handle.
Robertson finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds — both season highs — to go along with four steals, two assists and a blocked shot for good measure. Max sat most of the second quarter but still collected a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Junior guard Natalie Rayce also reached double figures with 10 points, five rebounds and four steals, junior guard Abby Pleasant had six points and junior guard Alaina Webb had five points, three rebounds and three steals.
Four different Falcons recorded at least three steals and Rochester also posted a 41-31 edge on the boards and blocked six shots.
The pesky Highlanders — who only have one player taller than 5-7 on their roster — was forced to play away from the basket and settled for chucking up shots from the cheap seats.
Three straight triples from senior guard Madison Kesman gave Adams a 12-6 lead with 2:53 left in the first quarter. But that was the only ray of daylight the Highlanders would see on the night.
Rochester jacked up the defensive pressure late in the first frame and behind the play of the aforementioned Robinson — the forward had nine points and 11 rebounds at the break — tied it at 12-12 on a three-point play with 9.4 seconds left in the first quarter.
Rochester opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run — aided by back-to-back three-pointers from Pleasant — to grab a 22-14 advantage with 1:45 left in the second quarter.
The Falcons settled for a 24-17 halftime advantage despite holding Adams to just 6-for-23 shooting and 13 turnovers in the first half.
In the second half, Rochester outscored Adams 24-8. The Falcons only yielded 13 points over the final three quarters and rarely allowed the Highlanders to penetrate the paint.
“We’re going to keep working on everything. W haven’t lost in the league and we’re trying to win a league title,” said Thurston.We’re also building for districts and hope we can be playing our best basketball when the districts come around.”
Senior guard Abbey Drank had a fine floor game for Adams (4-8, 2-6) with 10 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and two assists. Kesman added 11 points but the Highlanders only had three players reach the scoring column despite all 11 players gaining playing time on the court.
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