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Scorsone adds double-double in rout over Culver
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
CULVER — Rily Holloway hit four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points to lead three players in double figures as the Rochester girls basketball team routed host Culver 58-23 at John R. Nelson Gymnasium Wednesday.
Millie Scorsone added 17 points and 12 rebounds and recorded her second double-double since being inserted into the starting lineup against Maconaquah on Nov. 20. Kennedy Jackson scored 14 points and hauled down seven rebounds.
Rochester won their fourth straight game and improved to 6-3. Their winning streak has occurred without all-Three Rivers Conference forward Lexy Thomas, who continues to suffer from an injury to her midsection. Thomas, who last played against Peru on Nov. 18, did press and participate and pregame warmups this time.
Holloway, who had 24 points in a win over Winamac Saturday, became the first player in the four-year Brian Jennings era as coach to score 20 or more points in back-to-back games.
Afterwards, Jennings said that Holloway, a junior who played the previous two seasons at Tippecanoe Valley, is “just now relaxed in her Zebra skin.”
Rose Peterson scored all eight of her points in the first half to lead Culver (2-8). Grace Sieber, who had six, was the only other Culver player with more than one field goal.
Rochester held Culver to 21 percent shooting from the field.
Though neither Kami Burkett nor Kallie Watson scored, Rochester coach Brian Jennings recognized their defensive effort afterwards.
“I really wanted to play a lot of man-to-man this game because we played our last few games playing some zone, and our zone was starting to get a little flat,” Rochester coach Brian Jennings said. “When we play man-to-man, we get up in our gaps and stuff a little bit better, and that should carry over to our zone, but we got away from that a little bit, so we wanted to play some man tonight. To start the game, we thought we really needed to put some pressure on 30 (Peterson). She’s a real headsy guard. She does an excellent job. She attacks the rim and can shoot well. And Sieber, number 10, was the other one.
“We just wanted to put some pressure on them and make them work fullcourt. We just sent Kami and Kallie up there to pick them up and drop the other three back and just make her work a little bit. They got past us and got some good things, but I think that constant pressure, there were a few times there we kind of felt they were starting to get a little bit tired, and we just kept running some more players in.”
The Lady Cavaliers were playing for the first time in eight days but fell behind 14-0 at the outset against the bigger Lady Zs.
The game featured a running clock per the IHSAA basketball mercy rule over the final 1:07.
The game started with Kami Burkett’s post feed leading Scorsone to the basket for a layup. A Holloway steal and layup, a Jackson putback, a Holloway steal and off-balance finish, a Jackson pullup banker, a Scorsone post turnaround and a Jackson post layup completed the opening run.
Culver hung within 28-12 at halftime thanks to Peterson, whose first-half output included a nifty Eurostep move in transition to close out the half.
But Rochester buried Culver with an 18-2 third quarter, holding the Lady Cavaliers to one field goal while forcing eight turnovers.
Holloway worked a give-and-go on a fast break with Jackson and also hit two 3-pointers. Jackson also scored six straight points at one stretch.
Only one of Culver’s losses is to a team that currently has a losing record. The others are to Culver Academy (6-2), LaCrosse (6-1), South Central (8-0), Westville (4-3), reigning Class 1A state champion Pioneer (5-1) and Argos (7-1).
“We’re back to where we’ve had some inexperience and some youth,” Lowry said. “It’s the second year in a row of doing this. So hopefully, we can get a couple groups here that decide that basketball is what they want to do and they decide to come out and make our program what it can be. I’m looking at Rochester, Pioneer and South Central. We’ve already played some teams where they’re showing you how it can be done. So we’ve seen it. We’ve seen good basketball and teams and programs. Now what do we want to do? I think we have people in the right place. … There’s some investment in our program.”
Rochester also eked out a 25-24 win in the JV game on Rylee Clevenger’s free throw with five seconds left. Clevenger led Rochester with 11 points, Audrey Bolinger had six, Darah Strasser had four, Elizabeth Weaver had two, and Ella McCarter and Mia Howdeshell had one each.
Brynn Berndt led Culver with nine. Kassidy Banks had six, Livi Overmyer had five, and Grace Sieber and Amiyah Williams had two each.
Rochester 58, Culver 23
ROCHESTER (58) (6-3)
Kami Burkett 0 0-0 0, Rily Holloway 8 0-1 20, Kallie Watson 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Jackson 7 0-0 14, Millie Scorsone 7 3-6 17, Sydney Haughs 0 0-0 0, Lilith Eaton 1 2-2 5, Savanah Eccles 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Weaver 0 0-0 0, Rylee Clevenger 0 0-0 0, Audrey Bolinger 1 0-1 2
TEAM: 24 5-10 58
CULVER (23) (2-8)
Grace Sieber 2 1-4 6, Rose Peterson 3 2-2 8, Lizzie Pugh 0 0-0 0, Maisy McCuen 1 0-4 2, Avery Garland 1 0-0 2, Brynn Berndt 1 1-2 3, Kaylee Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Kassidy Banks 0 0-2 0, Luci Overmyer 0 0-0 0, Livi Overmyer 0 0-0 0, Amiyah Williams 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 9 4-13 23
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 5 (Holloway 4, Eaton),
Culver 1 (Sieber)
Total fouls: Rochester 19, Culver 12
Turnovers: Rochester 16, Culver 23
IHSAA mercy rule: 1:07, fourth
Score by quarters
Rochester 17 11 18 12 – 58
Culver 4 8 2 9 – 23
JV: Rochester 25, Culver 24
Watch full game Here:
Rochester junior guard Kallie Watson looks to pass while being guarded by Culver’s Lizzie Pugh during the Lady Zs’ 58-23 win at Culver’s John R. Nelson Gymnasium Wednesday. (photo provided by Dee Brown)
