R-B rides threes to victory

Marian Central's Marie Palmer (left) pulls down a rebound over Richmond-Burton's Becca Jorgensen during Thursday's game against Marian Central. R-B won, 42-40. (Travis Haughton - thaughton@nwherald.com)

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WOODSTOCK – Richmond-Burton’s girls basketball team came into Thursday’s game at the Marian Central Thanksgiving Tournament looking for a better performance after a loss Tuesday to Winnebago.

The Rockets jumped out to a 15-point lead against Marian Central before allowing it to slip away, but they recovered to win, 42-40.

Erin Thomas led the Rockets with 14 points, including four three-pointers.

“[Three-pointers are] a big part of my game, and when I get on a roll, I just feel it, and my teammates get me open, and I hit threes,” Thomas said.

R-B hit seven three-pointers, the same number of two-point baskets the Rockets made. Coach Melanie Hinz said that was something the team would live and die with all season.

“We have a lot of good three-point shooters,” Hinz said. “When we are not running the floor, then we are running an offense to get someone open to shoot threes. We have four of them who can do it.”

Hinz added that after Tuesday, adjustments were made.

“We came out with a different game plan and had everyone ready to go,” Hinz said. “They composed themselves, went with the game plan and did what was asked of them, and the outcome was good.”

Nikki Zaobidny added 10 points for the Rockets.

After Marian (0-1) scored the first points of the game, R-B (1-1) scored the next 11 and led by 10 after one quarter. As the game wore on, however, Marian slowly chipped into the lead.

The Hurricanes trailed by five at halftime and by four after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Marian caught R-B, taking a one-point lead with 6:21 left. The teams alternated the next five baskets and one-point leads. After a Marian free throw tied the score at 38, Tracy Holian’s layup with 1:38 left gave R-B the lead for good.

Meagan Murphy had 11 points, and Lauren Grady had 10 points off the bench to lead Marian.

Marian coach Lindsey Serpe said although the result wasn’t a winning one, it was a productive night for her team in their season opener.
 
“I was very proud of the girls,” Serpe said. “Last season, coming out of deficits was a huge issue for us. It really showed how resilient this team is and how they are coming together. I think we need to hit some of the fundamentals, though. We had 11 missed shots right underneath the basket in the first half alone.”