By Todd Rohde~CORRESPONDENT
The Richmond-Burton girls’ basketball team has been playing pretty solid ball of late, but they finally ran into their match Jan. 26.
That when they were squared up against a fierce and competitive Burlington Central team who gave them some troubles on both sides of the ball in handing them a defeat.
The Lady Rockets gave it all that they had and left it all out on the court, but in the end it wasn’t meant to be as they were still handed a 56-34 Big Northern Conference crossover defeat at the hands of B-C in Richmond. The loss dropped the Rockets to the .500 mark at 11-11 overall on the season and to 6-3 in league play for the year.
Despite being on the road and having to make the journey to R-B to play, B-C came out of the gates on fire especially offensively. They couldn’t be stopped as they pretty much knocked down everything they put up in going on to outscore the Rockets 22-9 in the first quarter of play.
Richmond’s Hannah Koenig scored five of the Rockets nine points during the stretch, but they just didn’t have an answer for B-C’s Shelby Holt. The talented young guard could do no wrong, as she was a one-person wrecking crew in the first eight minutes by scoring 16 of the team’s 22 points including hitting an incredible six three pointers.
As hot as B-C was in the first quarter of play, they quieted down considerably in the second quarter as the Rockets were able to trim the deficit a little bit to 29-19 at the half. Koenig continued to fuel the Rockets by scoring six more points in the quarter including going 4-6 from the charity stripe.
Unfortunately though, B-C found their rhythm once again in the third quarter as they tripled the Rockets production to up their lead quite big. They outscored Richmond 18-6 during the run to build the deficit to 47-25 with a quarter to play, as B-C knocked down another four treys from behind the arc.
B-C would cruise on for the easy victory, as they hit more three pointers (11) in the game than they did field goals (9). Holt and Ross combined for 37 of their points in the contest including eight shots from long range. The Rockets limited attack was sparked by Koenig with 12 points and Alex Callahan with seven rebounds, four points and three assists.
North Boone handles Richmond
Unfortunately for the Rockets, they stumbled upon the same problem a couple days earlier as well when they were squared up against North Boone. And the result was the same also, as the Rockets suffered a 52-43 BNC loss at the hands of the Vikings in Richmond.
It was a pretty competitive first half, as the Vikings jumped out to an 18-12 lead through the first quarter of play as they had six different players score during the stretch. Not to be outdone though, the Rockets were able to slice the deficit to 25-23 at the break setting the stage for a competitive second half.
The see-saw battle would continue as the Rockets tried to keep things close and within striking distance. Richmond trailed 38-35 with eight minutes to play in the contest, as they were determined not to give in without a fight.
Despite making all six of their foul shots in the final quarter, the Rockets were held to a mere field goal. This allowed the Vikings to run away and seal the victory by going onto outscore Richmond 14-8 at the end when it counted most.
The Rockets were paced by Koenig with a double-double that included 12 points and 10 rebounds, as Boettjer also added 10 points and had three assists as Callahan snagged nine boards to go along with eight points. Paityn Morris and Renee Martin led the Viking by combing for 31 points.