Hunter’s 14, J. Field’s 10 help Rochester top Western, finish regular season .500

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Jadyn Field Brailyn Hunter

Brailyn Hunter hit three 3-pointers and scored 14 points, and Jadyn Field added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Rochester girls basketball team in a 39-18 drubbing of visiting Western at the RHS gym Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Rochester 2-3 zone defense forced 23 turnovers and held Western without a field goal in the first and third quarters. Western’s 18 points were a season low.

Rochester also held Western top scorer Ellyse Walden, who came in averaging 13 points per game, to just seven. Second-leading scorer Ella Rawlings was held scoreless.

Rochester evened their record at 11-11 going into Tuesday’s Class 2A, Sectional 38 game against Manchester at Wabash. Western lost their third straight game and dropped to 11-12.

“We talked a lot about the Fields in the pregame wearing her out,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said of the strategy against Walden, a 5-11 post player. “I thought both Fields ran the floor really well.”

Hunter had more points (12) than the entire Western team through three quarters. Freshman Ali Field had two putback baskets in the third quarter, and Aubrey Wilson capped the quarter with an uncontested layup after Rochester threw over the top of Western’s press after Allora Bevington broke an eight-minute scoring drought with two free throws with 7.9 seconds left.

Hunter’s pullup jumper and Field’s steal and layup to start the fourth quarter extended the lead to 34-11.

“I’ve just been trying to add it more in practice while we scrimmage,” Hunter said of her emerging pullup jumper to go with her 3-point range. “Trying to focus more on pulling up more than just shooting 3s. … I think before now I was just nervous to drive in, but now, I think I’ve gotten more comfortable with my ballhandling.”

Burrus said he was concerned about the health and conditioning of his team. Wilson, a junior guard, has been nursing a quad injury, and the Lady Zs were playing less than 48 hours after a 47-39 loss in overtime to Northfield Thursday. In addition, practice had been limited this week due to bad weather.

“We seemed to be locked in,” Burrus said of the defense. “I was worried about today because Wilson wasn’t feeling well. The body was sore. That and the Northfield game was a rock fight. And not being able to practice for a couple of days … and I know that was for everybody, but that affects kids. You start to lose that lung capacity that you build up, and that does something to you.”

Hunter hit consecutive 3-pointers in the first quarter as Rochester jumped out to an 8-2 lead. Wilson, Lyla Bowers and Hunter all hit treys in the second quarter as the lead ballooned to 17-3.

But with Walden getting inside position and scoring all six of her team’s points in the second quarter, the lead was down to 19-9 at halftime.

Rochester then continued the smothering in the third quarter.

“I thought our defense was really good today,” Hunter said. “We knew who we needed to really guard and stop. Ali and Jadyn did really well guarding number 50 (Walden) down there. I think it was really good.”

Manchester: A look ahead

Rochester’s game against Manchester is a rematch of a 38-29 Rochester win Jan. 24. Rochester held Manchester seniors Hadley West and Peyton Ream to no field goals and five points combined in that game. West and Ream combined for 24 points in a 40-31 win over the Lady Zs in 2025.

“Obviously, for this next game, now we’ve got to use our post play as our advantage,” Burrus said. “We have a major size advantage against Manchester, but they scrap. West and Ream and all them, they’re like photocopies of each other, and they’re so quick. They’re strong guards. … Talking to some of the coaches that have mentored me over the years, it’s about one game at a time in the tournament. … Our sole focus is on Manchester and only Manchester. We can’t get to Friday night without beating Manchester.”

Rochester also won the JV game 39-36 behind Lily Bowers’ 15 points. Hope Baugh added 13, including the game-winning 3-point play with 10.1 seconds left.; Alexandria Cortes-Gustafson and Lily Conley had five each; and Jayla Miller had one.

Rochester 39, Western 18

WESTERN (18) (11-12)

Cheyenne Smith 0 0-0 0, Kayleigh Auth 0 2-2 2, Ella Crume 0 0-0 0, Ella Rawlings 0 0-0 0, Ellyse Walden 3 1-2 7, Marlee McKibben 0 0-0 0, Chauncey Thompson 0 0-0 0, Allora Bevington 0 3-4 3, Lily Marshall 0 0-0 0, Maci Turner 1 1-2 4, Maci Mote 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 5 7-10 18

ROCHESTER (39) (11-11)

Aubrey Wilson 3 0-0 7, Brailyn Hunter 5 1-1 14, Adalyn Gonzalez 0 0-0 0, Jadyn Field 5 0-2 10, Ali Field 2 0-0 4, Lyla Bowers 1 0-0 3, Hope Baugh 0 0-0 0, Kyla Conley 0 1-2 1, Bailey Smith 0 0-0 0, Alexandria Cortes-Gustafson 0 0-0 0, Jayla Miller 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 16 2-5 39

Three-point field goals:

Western 1 (Turner),

Rochester 5 (Hunter 3, Wilson, Bowers)

Total fouls: Western 7, Rochester 14

Fouled out: Gonzalez (RHS), 2:15, fourth

Turnovers: Western 23, Rochester 17

Score by quarters

Western 3 6 2 7 – 18

Rochester 8 11 11 9 – 39

JV: Rochester 39, Western 36