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Field adds 6 points, career-high 12 rebounds
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
PERU — Rylee Clevenger scored seven of her team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter, and Aubrey Wilson hit two first-quarter 3-pointers as part of an eight-point night as the Rochester girls basketball team kept Peru winless with a 38-28 win at Tig-Arena Thursday.
Rochester improved to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. Peru fell to 0-7, 0-2.
Ella McCarter added seven points, and Jadyn Field had six points and a career-high 12 rebounds for the Lady Zs.
“I was thinking back and talking with my dad (Maconaquah boys basketball coach John Burrus) today,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus, a 2006 North Miami grad, said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever won here at Peru. I’ve been trying to go back to that … anytime, this place is just a hard place to win. My dad doesn’t like coming here either. It’s one of those places that it’s hard to win.”
Rochester scored the first six points of the game and never trailed. They built
the lead to 20-7 in the second quarter on a putback from Field.
Burrus later called Field a “ball hawk.”
“For practice in the post, we’ve been practicing our rebounding,” Field said. “That has helped a lot during our games. We’ve been practicing with the eighth grade boys. That’s helped a lot too. It’s helped give us real-life experience for game play, I should say, and just a faster pace.”
After Peru crept within eight in the third quarter, they built the lead back up to 13 on Mia Howdeshell’s 3-pointer from the right corner off a McCarter drive-and-kick with two seconds left in the third quarter
Peru scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to cut the margin to 30-24, but Clevenger drained a 3 from the right wing, and Peru got no closer.
Clevenger also went four for four from the foul line in the final 29.3 seconds. As a team, Rochester made 15 of 20 free throws while Peru went six for eight.
Rochester is 8-1 against Peru since the schools became conference rivals in the 2015-16 season.
“I thought Clevenger late when she went to the line and knocked those down, I saw a lot of maturity,” Burrus said. “I saw her and McCarter – the wheels could have come falling off there late. They could have. It’s just one of those deals that you knew they were going to hang around.”
After Brooklyn Garner airballed a shot from the right baseline on the opening possession of the game, Wilson drained a 3 from the right wing. Then she split a pair of free throws.
Field powered home a layup in the post to make it 6-0.
Kaylene Kirk hit a 15-footer for Peru, but Clevenger found Wilson for another 3.
“Those were huge,” Field said of Wilson’s early treys. “Those helped us out a lot and got us a good start on the game.”
Clevenger hit a long 3 from the right wing later in the quarter to make it 13-4. A McCarter 18-footer in the first minute of the second quarter made it 15-4.
“It was huge,” Peru coach Jenna Hayes said. “We lost number two (Wilson). … We lost her right off the bat, two 3s that were huge for them. I looked at her shooting percentage and knew she was a shooter from watching film as well. So the scouting report, we didn’t follow it, and yeah, she hit those two shots right off the bat.
“I think we did a good job against Clevenger and McCarter. We’re not going to hold them down completely. They’re good players, but we just let too many little breakdowns.”
Addison Robbins scored all 12 of her points in the second half to lead Peru. Robbins hit a 3-pointer and two free throws and then dished to Mareiona Mason for an 18-footer at the outset of the fourth quarter.
But Clevenger, Wilson and backup Brailyn Hunter played nagging defense on the top of Rochester’s 2-3 zone. They held Peru senior Kaylene Kirk to three points.
“She’s really good in the high post, and obviously, when you’ve got somebody really good in the high post, and you’ve got R.J. (Clevenger) and Wilson in there who are five-foot and 5-5, they’ve got to really fight in that high post, and I thought they did a good job in there tonight for the most part,” Burrus said.
Hayes said that was the first time Peru had seen a zone since the Caston game four games ago.
“They are always just solid,” Hayes said. “They know what to do, and they’re well-coached.”
Rochester 38, Peru 28
ROCHESTER (38) (2-3, 1-0)
Aubrey Wilson 2 2-4 8, Rylee Clevenger 2 6-6 12, Ella McCarter 2 3-4 7, Jadyn Field 2 2-4 6, Audrey Bolinger 0 2-2 2, Brailyn Hunter 0 0-0 0, Mia Howdeshell 1 0-0 3
TEAM: 9 15-20 38
PERU (28) (0-7, 0-2)
Maliyah Dunn 0 0-0 0, Addison Robbins 3 5-6 12, Mareiona Mason 3 0-0 6, Brooklyn Garner 1 0-0 2, Kaylene Kirk 1 1-2 3, Sydney Azbell 2 0-0 5, Addison Butt 0 0-0 0, Peyton Wideman 0 0-0 0, Madalyn Gatliff 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 10 6-8 28
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 5 (Clevenger 2, Wilson 2, Howdeshell),
Peru 2 (Robbins, Azbell)
Total fouls: Rochester 12, Peru 19
Turnovers: Rochester 11, Peru 12
Score by quarters
Rochester 13 7 10 8 – 38
Peru 4 6 7 11 – 28
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