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Lady Zs force 21 turnovers, stay unbeaten in TRC
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Rily Holloway, a senior shooting guard on the Rochester girls basketball team, said her shooting slump had gotten mental, but it’s over now.
Holloway hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead 3-pointer off an Emma Howdeshell assist with 1:10 left, to lift the Lady Zs to a 34-29 win over Maconaquah Saturday.
Rylee Clevenger tacked on four free throws without a miss in the final 34.1 seconds as Rochester improved to 2-4 overall and 2-0 in the Three Rivers Conference.
Holloway and Ella McCarter scored 12 points each to lead the Lady Zs, whose five-point margin of victory represented their largest lead. Clevenger scored seven of her 10 in the fourth quarter.
Miranda Stoll scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Maconaquah, who dropped to 1-2, 1-1.
Maconaquah, whose coach Ray Davis was an assistant coach at Rochester from 2018-22, led 29-24 on a Bailey Carson 3-pointer with 3:10 left, but Rochester finished on a 10-0 run.
“You get one day to prepare for them, and I was worried about them,” Rochester coach Joel Burrus said. “They got some people. They got some size. The Stolls (sisters Miranda and Courtney), they’re good players.”
But turnovers bedeviled the Lady Braves, who committed 21 as compared to Rochester’s six.
Rochester’s rally started with McCarter’s 3-point play on a power layup finish after a Sydney Haughs high post assist.
Maconaquah, who played the middle two quarters and started the fourth quarter in a 2-3 zone, had by now switched to a man-to-man, and on a possession that lasted nearly 45 seconds, Howdeshell found Holloway, her arms waving in the left corner. She sunk a 3-pointer for the lead.
Holloway also hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as part of a decisive 10-2 run in Thursday’s win over Peru.
“It felt really good,” Holloway said. “I knew I wanted that shot because I was like, ‘OK, we need to get up. We need to win this game.’ … This game, I’ve probably felt the best. I’ve just been struggling mentally with everything, so these past two games have been the best for me.”
Hallie Maiben missed a 3-pointer for Maconaquah. Courtney Stoll got the offensive rebound but traveled with 49.4 seconds left.
Maconaquah then committed five fouls in a 9.2-second span to get Rochester into the bonus, but Clevenger made both ends of a one-and-one.
Maconaquah called their final timeout with 24.4 seconds left but were called for a five-second violation on the inbounds pass.
“That’s where it came down there to in the fourth quarter,” Davis said. “It kind of showed the inexperience. Rochester, outside of Clevenger, they can put in four guards or four players that have a lot of varsity experience. But it came down to turnovers in the fourth quarter.”
Burrus extended Rochester’s 2-3 zone in the fourth quarter.
“When we went to the box press, we sped them up,” Burrus said. “We didn’t let them bring it into halfcourt and start eating time off the clock. We got a couple turnovers there big, and we knew if we hit a couple shots, now you’re getting close to where they’ve got to start fouling us.”
Holloway was asked what was the key to the 10-0 run.
“Defense,” Holloway said. “It was definitely our defense. I know Coach Burrus preaches defense, and that’s definitely the key.”
Clevenger hit two more free throws with 22.8 seconds left to complete the scoring.
“My goodness, though, did Clevenger show her growth tonight when she went to the line and sunk those free throws because it don’t get any bigger than that,” Burrus said.
Maconaquah led 12-10 at halftime and extended the lead to 22-18 after three quarters. A Miranda Stoll putback increased the lead to six with 7:33 left, but Clevenger and Holloway hit treys on consecutive possessions to tie the game at 24 before a Courtney Stoll putback gave Maconaquah the lead again.
In the JV game, Maconaquah prevailed 10-4. Olivia Rude and Darah Strasser scored two points each for Rochester.
Rochester 34, Maconaquah 29
MACONAQUAH (29) (1-2, 1-1)
Hallie Maiben 1 0-0 2, Bailey Carson 2 1-2 6, Shaelyn Powell 1 0-1 2, Miranda Stoll 4 2-2 11, Courtney Stoll 4 0-0 8, Addie Maiben 0 0-0 0, Madisyn Wibel 0 0-0 0, Sydney Barnes 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 12 3-5 29
ROCHESTER (34) (2-4, 2-0)
Rily Holloway 4 0-0 12, Rylee Clevenger 2 4-4 10, Emma Howdeshell 0 0-1 0, Sydney Haughs 0 0-0 0, Ella McCarter 5 2-3 12, Maddie Heinzmann 0 0-0 0, Kallie Watson 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 11 6-8 34
Three-point field goals:
Maconaquah 2 (M. Stoll, Carson),
Rochester 6 (Holloway 4, Clevenger 2)
Total fouls: Maconaquah 10, Rochester 10
Turnovers: Maconaquah 21, Rochester 6
Score by quarters
Maconaquah 8 4 10 7 – 29
Rochester 5 5 8 16 – 34
JV: Maconaquah 10, Rochester 4
Rochester’s Kallie Watson (10) tries to drive on Maconaquah’s Courtney Stoll (32) during the Lady Zs’ 34-29 win Saturday. Rochester (2-4 overall, 2-0 Three Rivers Conference) will host Lewis Cass at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, varsity only. (Photo provided by Dee Brown)
Rochester’s Kallie Watson (10), Rylee Clevenger (3) and Ella McCarter (33) celebrate after Rochester’s 34-29 win over Maconaquah Saturday. The Lady Zs trailed by as many as six points in the fourth quarter. (Photo provided by Dee Brown)
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