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McCarter also scores 12 as Lady Zs improve to 5-2 in TRC
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Ella McCarter Rylee Clevenger
WALTON — Rochester senior girls basketball player Ella McCarter has played with fellow senior Rylee Clevenger for so long that she knew she was going to make the go-ahead 3-pointer against host Lewis Cass Saturday.
And the deadeye Clevenger in fact knocked down her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 26 seconds left to lead the Lady Zs past their conference and sectional rival 34-32.
Clevenger has hit 45 3-pointers this season, ranking her in the top 30 in the state. McCarter also hit four treys and tied Clevenger for game-high scoring honors with 12. Aubrey Wilson and Jadyn Field added five each.
Rochester led by as many as nine points in the second quarter but scored the last six on 3-pointers from McCarter and Clevenger in the final 2:06 to overcome a 32-28 deficit.
Of Rochester’s 11 field goals, nine were 3-pointers.
“Probably the last four minutes of the game, that was the most composed I’ve seen us down,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said. “It’s not like you’re down a bunch. … You’re playing against a very disciplined, mano a mano, very disciplined 2-3 zone. And we moved the ball – I don’t know how many passes we had on that possession that R.J. (Clevenger) hit the 3, but it seemed like there were quite a few. But I just thought that we did a really good job of staying composed there those last four minutes, and luckily in our favor, the clock didn’t move.”
Mylie Sipe and Anna Hedrick scored eight points each for Lewis Cass, but Rochester held Lewis Cass leading scorer Aftin Griffin, who averages 12 points per game, to just five.
Rochester improved to 14-5 overall and 5-2 in the Three Rivers Conference. Lewis Cass fell to 13-5, 3-3.
“McCarter’s so good just being in the lane,” Lewis Cass coach Kyle Amor said. “It was just a concerted effort to make sure you take the drive away and make them have to beat us from the 3-point line. Unfortunately, I think they had four field goals in the second half, and it was all 3s. So yeah, I think we got what we wanted out of it. Tonight was a night that Rochester was able to knock those down.”
The teams could meet again in Class 2A, Sectional 38, which Lewis Cass will host from Feb. 4-8.
Sipe, an Indiana Tech recruit who was held scoreless in the first half, drilled a game-tying 3-pointer to make it 28-28 on the first possession of the fourth quarter. Griffin made two free throws with 5:06 left, and Anna Hedrick scored on a back-door lob to give the Lady Kings a 32-28 lead with 2:20 left.
But McCarter answered with a trey to get Rochester within one.
Rochester called timeout and came out in a fullcourt press. Lewis Cass attacked it, but Griffin missed a pullup 12-footer, and the rebound was knocked out of bounds off Lewis Cass.
Rochester probed the perimeter, and McCarter missed a 13-footer from the left baseline, but she rebounded her own miss, and Burrus called another timeout with 53.0 seconds left.
Rochester again probed the perimeter after the timeout before McCarter ventured into the short corner off the dribble, veered slightly to her right and found Clevenger in her sights.
Griffin closed out on Clevenger, but it was too late. Nothing but net.
“Insane, insane,” McCarter said. “R.J. has ice in her veins. I feel confident passing the ball at any time and at any point in the game, and I know it’s going to be a make, period.”
Griffin raced upcourt, and Hunter fouled her on the floor with 19.1 seconds left. Lewis Cass coach Kyle Amor called timeout, and on the first play after the timeout, Sipe had a look at a 22-footer from the top of the key. It landed in the cylinder and popped out, and Lewis Cass’ Lexi Gotshall and Field tied each other up going for the rebound.
The possession arrow pointed towards Rochester with 13.4 seconds left.
Lewis Cass pressed, but Rochester advanced the ball into the frontcourt. Hedrick fouled McCarter with 2.6 seconds left. After the teams combined to call three timeouts, McCarter finally inbounded to Wilson, who held onto the ball and burned the remaining time off the clock.
“We knew in that game, it was going to be like chess,” Burrus said. “Back and forth. OK, we got this, you got that. … It was a well-played game. … But we’re to 14 wins. Now we’ve got to roll from here.”
Griffin and Hedrick hit 3-pointers on the first two possessions to give the Lady Kings a 6-0 lead, but Clevenger hit two 3s to tie it. The game was tied 11-11 in the second quarter when the Lady Zs went on an 8-0 run. Field had a 3-point play, Clevenger hit another 3, and Field scored on a putback.
Freshman reserve Presley Johnson hit two free throws for Lewis Cass, but Wilson buried a 3 to give Rochester a 22-13 lead. A Hedrick steal and bucket before halftime cut it to seven.
McCarter hit two triples in the third quarter for all six Rochester points, and they maintained a 28-25 lead going into the fourth.
In other TRC action Saturday, Whitko handled Southwood 52-33 and Wabash defeated Manchester 57-38. Whitko is the only remaining unbeaten team in league play, and Wabash is the only one-loss team. Rochester, Northfield and Maconaquah have two losses each.
Rochester 34, Lewis Cass 32
ROCHESTER (34) (14-5, 5-2)
Aubrey Wilson 1 2-2 5, Rylee Clevenger 4 0-0 12, Brailyn Hunter 0 0-0 0, Ella McCarter 4 0-0 12, Audrey Bolinger 0 0-0 0, Jadyn Field 2 1-1 5
TEAM: 11 3-3 34
LEWIS CASS (32) (13-5, 3-3)
Anna Hedrick 4 0-0 8, Aftin Griffin 1 2-2 5, Ava Hubner 1 1-2 4, Kylie Logan 0 0-0 0, Mylie Sipe 3 0-0 8, Presley Johnson 0 2-2 2, Hope Rush 2 0-0 5, Lexi Gotshall 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 11 5-6 32
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 9 (Clevenger 4, McCarter 4, Wilson),
Lewis Cass 5 (Sipe 2, Griffin, Rush, Hubner)
Total fouls: Rochester 7, Lewis Cass 8
Turnovers: Rochester 7, Lewis Cass 8
Score by quarters
Rochester 8 14 6 6 – 34
Lewis Cass 8 7 10 7 – 32
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