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Scales adds 15, Douglass 13; Field leads Rochester with 8
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
FULTON — Sparked by its two senior leaders and their preternaturally gifted freshman point guard, the Caston girls basketball team continued its season-opening scoring blitz Saturday.
Addison Zimpleman scored a game-high 22 points, Isabel Scales added 15, and Madi Douglass had 13 for the Lady Comets in a 63-30 win over visiting Rochester.
Jadyn Field had eight, and Rylee Clevenger had seven, but Rochester could not overcome 31 turnovers against Caston’s stifling defense. The Lady Zs have committed 50 turnovers through their first two games, both losses.
Caston improved to 2-0. They have scored 60-plus points in both games after doing it just three times in 23 games last season.
Historical girls basketball records are unclear, but it’s believed to be the first time in at least 25 years that Caston
has scored 60 or more points in back-to-back games. The Lady Comets beat Argos 66-46 on Thursday.
“I know it’s early, and I know it’s only two games in, but I love the way our offense looks for the Lady Comets,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “I told the girls I want to. I want to be able to put up some points up this year. I think we got the nucleus to be able to do it.” Rochester took their first lead at 13-12 after a Clevenger 3-pointer, but it turned out to be their last lead.
Douglass drained a 3-pointer with one second left in the quarter, and Caston then scored the first 11 points of the second quarter.
“When since I’ve been here at Rochester haven’t we given up a 3 at the end of the first quarter?” a flustered Rochester coach Joel Burrus asked
rhetorically. “I’m losing years off my life with that.”
Zimpleman had a steal and a layup, Macee Hinderlider had a steal and a layup as she was fouled that she turned into a 3-point play. Scales then hit a 3-pointer in transition, and Zimpleman also hit a 3.
“The last two games, Addison has been playing tremendous, getting a lot of rebounds and putbacks for us, hitting her free throws,” coach Douglass said. “Tonight, she had it going from the outside a little bit too.”
Zimpleman averaged 11.3 points per game last year but is averaging 20.5 through two games so far this year. She said she is taking on more responsibilities offensively this year.
“I think to an extent I have to be a primary shooter and in the post, so I know my role right now, but I don’t go out thinking I have to get 20-plus points a game,” Zimpleman said. “I just go out knowing my role.”
The lead stayed in double digits the rest of the night.
Zimpleman outscored the entire Rochester team 11-9 in the second quarter as the lead reached 37-22 at halftime.
Defensively, Caston held Rochester scoreless for the first 6:10 of the second half and to one field goal and eight points in the second half. Douglass scored nine points, and Annie Harsh hit two 3-pointers in the half.
Rochester’s offense struggled against Caston’s defense, which coach Douglass called a 2-3 zone but aggressively trapped out near midcourt.
“Our defense, I thought, was really good, especially our zone,” Zimpleman said. “I think if we are moving in the right places at the right time, then we will be hard to get through.”
Burrus credited Scales, who famously attended Burrus’ basketball camp when she was a third-grader nine years ago when Burrus was the Caston coach, for her defense. He called Scales a “rover” in the zone and compared the zone to the defense that his father John runs with the Maconaquah boys team.
“Alignment was right, but we’ve got to attack,” Burrus said. “We can’t play scared to traps. I told the freshmen in there the speed of the game, we understand that that’s a big, big difference. These guys, they just fly around all over the place. We knew exactly what they were going to do. We went with a three-guard front against it. The ball gets on the sideline, and you can’t stand with it.”
As for coach Douglass, the rapid pace suited his team well. Madi Douglass had six steals, Hinderlider had five steals, and Scales had four.
Zimpleman said the Lady Comets have to play faster since they do not have a strong post presence this year.
“We want to play fast,” coach Douglass said. “I don’t want to slow it down. These girls love to run, but I think you noticed that if somebody wants to slow us down and put us in a halfcourt set, we’re OK to grind one out this year where we usually panic.”
Caston 63, Rochester 30
ROCHESTER (30) (0-2)
Aubrey Wilson 2 0-0 5, Rylee Clevenger 2 2-2 7, Ella McCarter 1 0-0 3, Jadyn Field 2 4-6 8, Audrey Bolinger 0 0-0 0, Brailyn Hunter 1 0-0 2, Mia Howdeshell 1 2-3 5
TEAM: 9 8-11 30
CASTON (63) (2-0)
Macee Hinderlider 3 1-1 7, Addison Zimpleman 8 4-6 22, Madi Douglass 5 1-2 13, Isabel Scales 6 2-2 15, Alexa Finke 0 0-0 0, Olivia Thomas 0 0-0 0, Autumn Miller 0 0-0 0, Annie Harsh 2 0-0 6, Kylie Reidenbach 0 0-0 0, Kylee Logan 0 0-0 0, Grace Wright 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 24 8-11 63
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 4 (Clevenger, Wilson, Howdeshell, McCarter),
Caston 7 (Douglass 2, Harsh 2, Zimpleman 2, Scales)
Total fouls: Rochester 11, Caston 13
Turnovers: Rochester 31, Caston 14
Score by quarters
Rochester 13 9 2 6 – 30
Caston 15 22 11 15 – 63
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