‘Dialed in,’ defensive-minded Rochester holds down Lady Jays in opening win

J. Field leads with 13, Hunter adds 10

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

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Jadyn Field Brailyn Hunter

NORTH JUDSON — Rochester girls basketball coach Joel Burrus said his team, which returns all five starters from last year, was unusually ready for its season opener for North Judson Thursday at The Nest.

They then showed how ready, holding the Lady Jays to just six points in the second and third quarters combined as they rolled to a 38-25 win.

Jadyn Field led Rochester with 13 points and nine rebounds. Brailyn Hunter added 10, and Adalyn Gonzalez chipped in with eight. Ali Field also had nine rebounds to go with her three points

Cailyn Tunis, a senior who netted her 1,000th career point last year, hit three 3-pointers and led North Judson (0-1) with 16 points. But the rest of the team had just one field goal against Rochester’s bothersome and lengthy 2-3 zone.

Burrus said a scrimmage against Class 1A regional champion Elkhart Christian Saturday was beneficial.

“We knew they were going to run the ball screen out of the high post,” Burrus said. “It’s hard for them because they have to have Tunis on the ball. Like, she has to have it to handle it, but they also have to have her be their top scorer too. So we’ve worked on that a lot this past week.

“I really think that the Elkhart Christian scrimmage helped us with that to be honest with you. Because Elkhart Christian (has) four guards that are just speedsters, and that exposed some things, and I knew it would, and I think that helped us. When we got to practice, these guys have been really dialed in. I’ve probably never gone into a first game since R.J. (Rylee Clevenger), Ella (McCarter) and them as confident as I was tonight because of your practices.”

Jadyn Field has also noticed what the team has been accomplishing in practice.

“I feel like we’ve definitely pushed ourselves a lot in practice,” she said. “Burrus, he has made a new rule that whenever the JV scores, they get four points instead of the normal amount. So I feel like the varsity has turned that into a new perspective and to not let them score at all, so we look really good and push ourselves more to get game-ready.”

Rochester led 25-14 at halftime, and North Judson cut the deficit no further than eight in the second half on a Tunis trey with 6:26 left in the third quarter, but they would not score again for the next 7:40 when another Tunis 3 cut the gap to 31-20.

But on the ensuing possession, Gonzalez answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing to pump the lead back to 14. Rochester led by as many as 16 in the fourth quarter.

Burrus initially said during the summer that Gonzalez scoring six to eight points per game would be crucial to Rochester’s success.

“I think the big thing for Gonzo is she’s so good when she gets in the lane, and we’re trying to get her into the lane more and be aggressive,” Burrus said. “I’ll stop it in practice and go, ‘Gonzo, why didn’t you shoot that?’ But at times, when you’re younger, and even though they’ve all been playing together, am I being too selfish? No, you’re not being selfish. These girls want you to score. I mean, this group has played a lot now together. We’re seasoned now. … I needed her to be confident. We’ve really been talking to her about being aggressive to the paint because if you get her into the box, you’ve got both Fields sitting on the blocks. So if she puts something up there, they’ve got great positioning.”

Jadyn Field was held scoreless in the first quarter, but she outscored the entire North Judson team 11-3 in the second quarter and finished the half on a personal 7-0 run.

After Hunter drained a 3 to put Rochester ahead for good at 13-11, Jadyn Field then scored on a putback. Then she hit a screen-and-roll banker off an assist from Aubrey Wilson and was fouled.

She missed the free throw, but the basket capped an 8-0 run that put Rochester up seven.

She would later score on another putback after a Hunter miss in the paint to get the lead back to 20-14. She would get another offensive rebound of a Hope Baugh air ball and split a pair from the line. Then she would get another offensive rebound off an Ali Field putback miss of a Lyla Bowers missed 3-pointer. The lead was nine.

Her final basket came after Annabell Kennedy blocked Wilson on a drive to the hoop, but she recovered the loose ball and got a friendly roll on the rim with three seconds left to get the lead to 11.

“I remember being very exhausted, but I remember that my team pushed through and myself, and I just felt an adrenaline rush all of a sudden and decided to score, and I was like, heck yeah, we’re winning this thing,” Jadyn Field said.

North Judson won the JV game 31-29.

Rochester 38, North Judson 25

ROCHESTER (38) (1-0)

Aubrey Wilson 1 2-2 4, Brailyn Hunter 3 2-2 10, Adalyn Gonzalez 3 1-1 8, Jadyn Field 6 1-3 13, Ali Field 1 1-7 3, Lyla Bowers 0 0-0 0, Hope Baugh 0 0-0 0, Kyleigh Little 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 14 7-15 38

NORTH JUDSON (25) (0-1)

Ella Chambers 0 0-2 0, Cailyn Tunis 6 1-2 16, Avaree Johnston 1 2-2 4, Annabell Kennedy 0 5-6 5, Macy Morrow 0 0-0 0, Brooklynn Boyd 0 0-0 0, Braelyn Lewandowski 0 0-0 0, Carlyn Tunis 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 7 8-12 25

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 3 (Hunter 2, Gonzalez),

North Judson 3 (Cailyn Tunis 3)

Team fouls: Rochester 18, North Judson 14

Turnovers: Rochester 13, North Judson 20

Score by quarters

Rochester 10 15 6 7 – 38

North Judson 11 3 3 8 – 25

JV: North Judson 31, Rochester 29