Rockets put it all 
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RICHMOND – Richmond-Burton’s girls basketball team has a .500 record, but it quickly is proving it can be one of the area’s more dangerous clubs.

On Friday the Rockets showed again they are carrying a huge chip on their shoulders after being seeded fifth in the IHSA Class 3A Regional, this time thumping Harvard, 56-20, in Big Northern Conference East Division play.

It was senior night, and R-B’s three seniors did not disappoint the home fans. Tracy Holian (game-high 15 points, five rebounds, two steals), Bree Roberts (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Amanda Stanek (two steals) all made significant contributions for the Rockets (12-12 overall, 7-2 BNC East).

Holian’s four first-half three-pointers helped R-B pull ahead, 20-13, by halftime, while Roberts scored eight second-half points and grabbed six offensive boards in the game on her way to a double-double.

“I’ve had four threes in one quarter before, actually,” Holian said. “But tonight we won because we played together as a group. Our team is like a family.”

In the second half, the Rockets allowed only seven points. They also whitewashed Harvard during an impressive defensive display throughout the fourth quarter – and didn’t allow a single point during the game’s final 10-plus minutes. 

“We’ve just been working extremely hard on [defense] the last couple of days in practice,” R-B coach Melanie Hinz said. “We started the year a little slow, but overall, we’re pretty much where we want to be.”

Several R-B players said they felt they had a huge wave of momentum leading up to their showdown against BNC East leader Hampshire (22-1, 7-0) on Monday night.

“We’re gonna have some fire out there against Hampshire, you can be sure of that,” Roberts said.

It was the final BNC East game of the season for Harvard (6-21, 2-8).

Despite the team’s struggles this year, Harvard coach Casey Seyller said the Hornets were improving.

“We started the season 1-15, but we’ve won five games since then,” Seyller said. “We were only down seven at halftime tonight against a very good team.

“I thought we played well during the first half tonight, but once you let things get away from you a bit, it can be a struggle to get back in the game sometimes.” 

Harvard senior Emily Scott finished with a team-high 12 points.

Rachael Thompson and Lindsay Melson both added two points and seven rebounds.

R-B freshman Alex Callahan scored seven points off the bench to go along with seven rebounds (six offensive).

Junior Nikki Zaobidny (eight points, five rebounds, two blocks) had a solid game as well for the Rockets.