McCarter outscores Wabash in Lady Z TRC rout

Rochester holds Lady Apaches to 1 FG in final 3 quarters

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

WABASH — Ella McCarter scored a game-high 15 points and dished out three assists, and Rylee Clevenger nailed a pair of 3-pointers and scored 11 points as the visiting Rochester girls basketball team routed Wabash 36-14 at Coolman Gymnasium on Dec. 9.

Meanwhile, the Rochester 2-3 zone smothered the Lady Apaches, holding them to 8 percent shooting from the field. Wabash also made just six of 16 free throws.

Rochester improved to 6-6 overall and 4-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. They are one of three undefeated teams in the conference along with Whitko and Lewis Cass.

Wabash fell to 5-5, 1-1.

Rochester carried an 8-7 lead after one quarter but then held Wabash to one field goal in the final three quarters.

Kaitlynn Honeycutt came in having scored in double figures in seven of her last eight games, but the Lady Zs held her to eight points this time.

Sophomore Bryleigh Boggs, who had scored in double figures six times previously this season, was held to five points.

Kierra Wilson, who had scored in double figures seven times previously this season, was held scoreless. After missing Wabash’s previous game with an ankle injury, Wilson came off the bench and entered with 4:58 left in the first quarter. She missed all eight of her shots.

“I’m just really proud of the fact that the girls after giving up 59 to Argos (two days earlier), we came out and put on a defensive clinic today,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said. “And I hope that gives them the confidence to show them, hey, if we’re keyed in and we’re all five in sync, we can lock people up. … It looked like we had seven or eight kids out there on defense. That’s what it’s supposed to look like when we’re in sync.”

Aubrey Wilson scored only one point but drew praise from Burrus for keeping Honeycutt in front of her.

“Well, they get in the ballhandlers’ faces, and if you can't run any offense like we didn’t run any today, it gets awful hard to find good shots,” Wabash coach Matt Stone said. “You know, we did a poor job of moving, we did a poor job of setting screens to get people in motion and get people moving, and when you do that and they can get after you, then it becomes really hard.”

Rochester went on a 16-2 run covering a 13-and-a-half-minute stretch from the start of the second quarter until well into the third quarter. The run started with a McCarter jumper from the left baseline, a Brailyn Hunter layup off a McCarter assist and a McCarter post banker before Hunter closed out the first half scoring with a right baseline 3-pointer to make it 17-7.

The run also included a McCarter 3-point play on a driving runner from the left baseline to start the second half and a Clevenger 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Rochester also closed the game on a 9-0 run with McCarter and Clevenger combining to make seven of eight free throws in the final five minutes.

McCarter also thought 3-pointers that she and Clevenger hit in the first quarter to give Rochester a 6-2 lead were important.

“Yeah, that’s always the goal,” McCarter answered when asked if she was looking to be more aggressive. “I was really trying to look into our posts this game. Wabash really didn’t have any good post play, and they did a nice job getting me open, and our shooters, Rylee, Aubrey and Brailyn, all help when they hit shots too.”

Burrus said McCarter’s seven free throw attempts – she made six – are a sign of growing aggressiveness.

“She’s getting aggressive, and she’s doing a good job, and this is the time,” Burrus said.

Rochester 36, Wabash 14

ROCHESTER (36) (6-6, 4-0)

Aubrey Wilson 0 1-2 1, Rylee Clevenger 2 5-6 11, Ella McCarter 4 6-7 15, Jadyn Field 2 0-3 4, Audrey Bolinger 0 0-2 0, Brailyn Hunter 2 0-0 5, Mia Howdeshell 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 10 12-20 36

WABASH (14) (5-5, 1-1)

Janika Stumbo 0 0-0 0, Kiana Jones 0 0-0 0, Kaitlynn Honeycutt 2 2-2 8, Bryleigh Boggs 1 3-6 5, Isabella Vail 0 0-4 0, Jaycee Jones 0 0-0 0, Kierra Wilson 0 0-0 0, Gretta France 0 0-0 0, Samantha Walter 0 1-4 1, Kenley McWhirt 0 0-0 0, Logan Wright 0 0-0 0, Olivia Braun 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 3 6-16 14

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 4 (Clevenger 2, McCarter, Hunter),

Wabash 2 (Honeycutt 2)

Total fouls: Rochester 19, Wabash 20

Technical foul: Wabash bench, 4:43, fourth

Fouled out: Stumbo (WAB), 1:40

Turnovers: Rochester 12, Wabash 12

Score by quarters

Rochester 8 9 10 9 – 36