Gonzalez scores 12, but Lady Zs struggle vs. Peru zone in loss

Robbins, Gatliff, Boswell score in double figures for Lady Tigers

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Adalyn Gonzalez

PERU — Through four games, the Rochester girls basketball team on the road would appear to be a different team from the Rochester girls at home.

Addison Robbins scored 14 points, and Maddie Gatliff notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for host Peru in a 50-24 win over the Lady Zs at Tig-Arena Saturday afternoon.

Jacey Boswell added three 3-pointers and 11 points for Peru, who improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference.

Freshman wing Adalyn Gonzalez led Rochester in points and rebounds with 12 and 8, respectively. Lurking the left baseline off the dribble, Gonzalez scored 11 of Rochester’s 14 points in the second half.

Rochester is 2-0 at home, where it averages 54.5 points per game. They are 0-2 on the road while averaging 35 ppg.

Aubrey Wilson, who scored a team-high 15 points in a double-overtime win over North Miami Wednesday, was held scoreless. Jadyn Field, who came in averaging 12.3 points per game, was held to two.

“A couple things didn’t go our way there early,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said. “I thought Gatliff got going with offensive rebounds. Wilson’s dealing with some stuff. So we put her on the bottom a little bit today. They had two banked-in 3s there in the second quarter. … When I saw that, I’m like this ain’t probably going to be our day.”

Already leading 24-10 at halftime, Peru held Rochester to just one field goal in the third quarter as they extended their lead to 25.

Peru’s base defense is a 3-2 zone with the 5-7 Robbins, a Holy Cross signee, and the 5-9 Alivia Ross on top. Burrus noted that it was the first zone Rochester had seen.

“I thought the first half, we did some good things, and the plan was working from the standpoint of it was close, and it was kind of a chess match,” Burrus said. “It’s always a grind-it-out game with them because they sit in that 3-2. I expected them to come out and pressure us, and we had worked on that, but I think they probably watched our North Miami game, and North Miami pressed us the whole game, and we did a fairly good job against their press. For them to sit in that zone today wasn’t what we actually wanted. We actually wanted them to come out and get on us so we could get the ball more into the high post. But I think their scout was to squeeze Field in there.”

Peru coach Jenna Hayes said that putting pressure on Rochester’s guards was a point of emphasis.

“We knew if we could contain them, that helps to contain the post because if you can’t see them, it’s hard to pass it to them,” Hayes said. “So honestly, our main focal point was just playing our defense. I really didn’t key on anyone actually. … I was really worried about their physicality on rebounds because our guards, they’re not overly big, and that weak side drop is from our wing, which is usually Addie Robbins or Jacey and Ky (Correll). And so I just knew we had to be solid on that, and we did.

“I really challenged my girls to out-tough them and felt like we did today.”

Rochester had one field goal in the first nine-and-a-half minutes and fell behind 12-3 but would trim that deficit to 14-10 in the second quarter. Ali Field had a putback, Lyla Bowers hit two of free throws after being fouled in the act of shooting a 3-pointer, and Jadyn Field got a layup off a Gonzalez assist. A Gonzalez free throw with 2:12 left in the half capped the run.

Peru responded with a 17-0 run that included three 3-pointers from Boswell, one of which she banked in with one second left in the half.

Robbins, who came in averaging 18 ppg, made six of seven free throws in the third quarter.

Peru led by as many as 29 in the fourth quarter.

Peru was coming off a 50-43 loss to Kokomo Thursday. Hayes challenged her team in her pregame speech.

“In the locker room before the game, I said I think they’re tougher than us,” Hayes said. “I think so far I haven’t been impressed with you guys. … I don’t think we’re very tough. Show me differently.” 

Peru beat Rochester for the first time since 2021 and for just the second time in 11 meetings as conference rivals.

Rochester freshman Kyleigh Little scored her first career varsity point on a free throw in the fourth quarter.

In the JV game, Rochester improved to 3-1 with a 32-11 win.

Peru 50, Rochester 24

ROCHESTER (24) (2-2, 0-1)

Aubrey Wilson 0 0-0 0, Brailyn Hunter 1 0-0 3, Adalyn Gonzalez 3 6-8 12, Jadyn Field 1 0-0 2, Ali Field 2 0-0 4, Lyla Bowers 0 2-3 2, Hope Baugh 0 0-0 0, Kyleigh Little 0 1-2 1, Kyla Conley 0 0-0 0, Jayla Miller 0 0-2 0

TEAM: 7 9-15 24

PERU (50) (3-2, 1-0)

Jacey Boswell 4 0-0 11, Alivia Ross 0 0-0 0, Addison Robbins 3 6-7 14, Ky Correll 3 0-1 6, Maddie Gatliff 5 2-2 12, Addie Butt 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Sharp 1 0-0 2, Sofie Nordman 0 0-0 0, Ella Eldridge 0 0-0 0, Hartlee Wright 0 0-0 0, Raelynn Dunn 0 0-0 0, Izzy Colelli 2 1-2 5

TEAM: 18 9-12 50

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 1 (Hunter),

Peru 5 (Boswell 3, Robbins 2)

Total fouls: Rochester 15, Peru 15

Turnovers: Rochester 15, Peru 14

Score by quarters

Rochester 3 7 4 10 – 24

Peru 6 18 15 11 – 50

JV: Rochester 32, Peru 11