The ‘Keis’ to victory: Holloway scores 14, but Lady Berries top Rochester

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Rochester girls basketball team came into their home game with Logansport at the RHS gym Wednesday with one win over a team with a winning record.

That number was still one at the end of the night.

Logansport came in with a five-game winning streak, their longest in nine years. It’s now six after the Lady Berries pulled away in the final two minutes to win 40-30.

Senior point guard Gabby Richie led Logansport (10-7) with 18 points and nine rebounds, including a press-beating 3-point play with 1:37 left that triggered a game-ending 7-0 run after Rochester (9-10) had gotten within 33-30 after a Rily Holloway 3-pointer from the right wing.

Chloe Crook’s two free throws with 45.6 seconds left made it 38-30, and Ryann Wylie completed the scoring on a transition layup with six seconds left.

Holloway scored 14 points for Rochester. Rylee Clevenger added nine. They combined to make seven of the Lady Zs’ eight 3-pointers. Emma Howdeshell added four points, and Kallie Watson had three.

But Logansport shut down the paint, holding Rochester to two two-point field goals and no free throw attempts after the first quarter.

Logansport coach Chris Keisling, the former Rochester principal who worked in administration for Rochester Community Schools from 2014-21 before returning to coaching, devised a strategy to clamp down on the paint and made it difficult to pass from the high post to open shooters.

“I don’t know what we shot, but it wasn’t good enough,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said. “Thirty points at home is not good enough. We got a lot of open looks. We went to that overload set, and we got a lot of good things out of that. … In a game like that, you can think of the exact baskets that hurt you.”

The game was tied 13-13 at halftime. Rochester took their last lead at 18-17 on a Holloway trey with 4:07 left, but Kendra Sutton’s driving layin along the right baseline put Logansport ahead for good, and Lydia Goad’s 3-pointer extended the lead to four.

Clevenger hit a 3 to cut the lead to 22-21, but Richie, who met her average of 18 points per game, went on a personal 7-0 run covering the third and fourth quarters to push the lead to eight.

Holloway would sandwich two treys – the second came with 1:47 left and halved what had been a 33-27 deficit – around a Clevenger long ball as Rochester got back within three.

Rochester set up a full court press. Richie took a pass in the backcourt and sidestepped Holloway and tightroped the left sideline before turning toward the lane and colliding with Rochester’s Sydney Haughs. Richie put in a short banker as Haughs was called for a blocking foul and hit the free throw to complete the 3-point play.

“We knew that if we were going to win tonight, we needed to hold her to 10,” Burrus said of Richie. “She got her average. We just had some plays that didn’t go our way. I felt like they were a little more physical than us too at times.”

But it was the barren offense that seemed to be the story in the end.

“They play really good defense,” Burrus said. “Keisling’s a really good coach. They brought their tops down and clamped down on the middle when the ball was caught in there.”

Rochester won the two-quarter JV game 23-19 behind Darah Strasser’s 10 points.

Logansport 40, Rochester 30

LOGANSPORT (40) (10-7)

Gabby Richie 6 3-5 18, Lydia Goad 2 2-4 8, Chloe Crook 1 2-2 4, Kendra Sutton 3 0-0 6, Ryann Wylie 2 0-0 4, Kellyn Cripe 0 0-0 0, Daisy Jones 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 14 7-11 40

ROCHESTER (30) (9-10)

Rily Holloway 4 2-2 14, Rylee Clevenger 3 0-0 9, Kallie Watson 1 0-0 3, Emma Howdeshell 2 0-0 4, Sydney Haughs 0 0-0 0, Ella McCarter 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 10 2-2 30

Three-point field goals:

Logansport 5 (Richie 3, Goad 2),

Rochester 8 (Holloway 4, Clevenger 3, Watson)

Total fouls: Logansport 8, Rochester 13

Turnovers: Logansport 11, Rochester 9

Score by quarters

Logansport 8 5 11 16 – 40

Rochester 7 6 8 9 – 30