Rochester girls basketball preview: After strong summer, Lady Zs aim higher with 4 returning starters

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Rochester girls basketball team might have defied the odds last season.

They made it through a 24-game season with only seven players in the program without ever having a player miss a game due to illness or injury.

Then came the summer.

The team blossomed, going 17-0. But they also lost sophomore post player Jadyn Field to a torn ACL in the 17th game. She had knee surgery on Aug. 14 and will not be available at the start of the season.

Still, five key members of last year’s 12-12 team are back. They include seniors Audrey Bolinger, Rylee Clevenger and Ella McCarter and sophomores Aubrey Wilson and Brailyn Hunter.

“We have a better base going into what we had going into the year before naturally just because the freshmen are now sophomores,” third-year coach Joel Burrus said. “So that obviously plays a big part in it, and you’re into year two of these girls playing together. Played a lot this summer. I think anytime you get that kind of chemistry and camaraderie built off our 12 wins last year, I think that’s always a positive.”

Wilson and Clevenger are the returning starting guards.

Wilson handled the point last year, and she averaged 7.8 points per game and scored in double figures seven times. Her two highest scoring games came in the sectional – 17 points in a win over Knox and 16 in a loss to Tippecanoe Valley.

She also led the team in steals at 1.8 per game.

Burrus said Wilson spent the offseason refining her shot.

“Anytime you put a kid out there to run the show as a freshman, you’re going to have your ups and your downs,” Burrus said. “I thought that she worked through a lot of the early struggles in the season, and her confidence built as the season went on. … She had some big games for us. I think now I expect more from her.”

The 5-3 Clevenger led the team in scoring at 10 ppg and made 56 3-pointers. She made more 3-pointers than the second, third and fourth most prolific 3-point shooters on the team combined.

Burrus said he would like Clevenger to shoot 12 to 15 times a game.

“When she doesn’t take those shots, you’re going to hear me in the gym,” Burrus said. “If we view that she’s open, I want her shooting the ball. … This year, it’s going to be more about she wants to shoot the ball at a higher percentage. Last year, if you asked her, she would tell you she didn’t shoot the ball at a high enough clip. So this year, our goal for her – and she’d tell you – is 40 percent from 3. She shot it at 32 percent and made 55 3s. If she shoots the ball better this year, she’s going to hit 70 or 80 3s. I think that’s a goal. And she’s got to be able to put the ball on the floor, take one hard dribble baseline and pull up and hit the 12-to-15-footer. We feel like her shooting an open 12-to-15-foot shot is like other players shooting layups.”

The 6-0 McCarter averaged 7.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg and a team-high 3.4 assists per game last year. Burrus praised her for unique versatility.

“She has always been more of a pass-first-type kid, growing up and things like that,” Burrus said. “I’ve tried to turn her into a scorer. … She’s got one of the best skill sets and physical attributes you can have as a player. When you’re sitting around six-foot, you’re long, you’re lanky, and you can shoot the basketball, and you’ve got good handles, I’m going to tell you that you need to score.”

Hunter is listed at 5-8, and Burrus estimates that Hunter has grown both literally and as a player.

“This summer is where I saw a huge jump from her,” Burrus said. “I mean, if you talked to our coaches, she’s probably the one that took the biggest jump this summer. She really got aggressive towards the basket and in her shot. She’s stronger. She’s grown. She’s about two inches taller than what she was last year at this time. But now is the pressure of the role expanding. You’re no longer a freshman. You did get a solid amount of minutes last year. You had a really good summer. Now you’re in the fuel of the fire here. Our expectations for you are very high.”

The 5-11 Bolinger got spare varsity minutes as a freshman in 2021-22 and missed the entire 2022-23 season recuperating from knee surgery. Last year, she had nine points each in wins over Maconaquah and Logansport, and she also had eight rebounds when the Lady Zs handed Lewis Cass what turned out to be their only Three Rivers Conference loss.

She could receive extra attention from opponents with Field out.

“We love our two-post lineup, but when you have two posts, just naturally, the floor is not as open,” Burrus said. “We would love to have Field in there, and when she gets back, that’s going to be a huge lift for us. But… when you’ve got four guards on the perimeter and one post, the floor is just naturally more open. Bolinger, she’s going to be a double-digit-rebound-a-night kid, or she’s going to have every opportunity to do that. We’ve seen her really take strides. I think she’s in the best shape of her life. She’s running the floor better. She looks really good in the fluidity of our offense. I think she understands the game at the highest level that we could have her at right now. And she’s very unselfish.”

The program also has four freshmen: guards Kyla Conley and Emma Mathias and forwards Constance Velez and Jayla Miller.

With Field out, Miller could see varsity playing time right away.

“I’ve got to be careful with these freshmen,” Burrus said. “They’re in a little bit different spot than what the three (freshmen) were last year coming in. The three last year had a lot more basketball experience coming in, and you’re like, what does that mean? They started playing basketball at a very young age. They had parents that were taking them to Plymouth and all these places. They were playing on club teams and things, which is what we’re trying to build here. These freshmen, they kind of slipped through the cracks in that. They didn’t have those opportunities, so they are a little more wet behind the ears than what those three freshmen were last year.

“I do think the Miller girl right now, she is going to be our first one off the bench. And the Conley girl, she’s getting better every day. And then we’ve got Emma Mathias, who has come out. She’s just a really good athlete. … And then Constance Velez, she came with us to a lot of summer stuff. … She’s kind of more of a post-glue-type player, and she’ll do anything that you tell her to do, and I know she’s happy to be a part of it.”

The schedule includes seven games before Thanksgiving, capped by a home game against Valley, the team that knocked them out of last year’s Class 3A sectional, on Nov. 26.

The team kept North Miami on the schedule even though they are no longer in the TRC, and they will meet in Denver on Nov. 13. They also added nonconference games against Knox on the road on Dec. 11 and Taylor at home on Jan. 22. New conference rival Northwestern will host the Lady Zs on Dec. 19.

They will travel to Lewis Cass on Feb. 4 to begin play in their new Class 2A sectional after playing the previous two seasons in Class 3A.

Burrus also hired Isaac Shaffer to his coaching staff as an assistant coach. Shaffer replaces Nate Basham, who resigned when he was hired as the new assistant principal at Rochester Middle School.

Meanwhile, there is hope that the 5-11 Field will return to make the roster whole. She averaged 5.9 rebounds per game last year to lead the team.

“I’m not going to get into a date or a timeline, but yes, we do,” Burrus said when asked if he envisions Field coming back. “She has worked extremely hard. I’m not going to put the pressure on her of what the actual date is going to be. … So Aug. 14 was her surgery, and she was in rehab the day after. So she has worked extremely hard, and she’s going to surprise some people.

“That’s all I’m going to say.”

Rochester girls basketball schedule (all times Eastern)

Nov. 7 – at North Judson, 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 9 – vs. Caston, 7 p.m.

Nov. 13 – at North Miami, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 16 – at NorthWood, 7:45 p.m.

Nov. 21 – vs. Peru, 7 p.m.

Nov. 23 – vs. Maconaquah, 7 p.m.

Nov. 26 – vs. Tippecanoe Valley, 7 p.m.

Nov. 30 – at Winamac, 6:30 p.m.

Dec. 4 – vs. Culver, 7 p.m.

Dec. 7 – at Southwood, 7:45 p.m.