Thegatewaynews.com - Girls hoops team survives pesky Rootstown

by Michael Leonard

Sports Editor

Streetsboro — All too often at the high school level, a team with a better record relaxes when a team with a poor record comes to town.

That appeared to be the case Jan. 27 when the Streetsboro girls basketball team hosted a one-win Rootstown squad.

The Rockets narrowly avoided the upset — but they did upset their coach.

After trailing by as many as seven late in the third quarter, Streetsboro rallied to secure a 45-40 win over the Rovers.

The long season continues for Rootstown as head coach Tom Deighan’s girls fell to 1-15 overall and 1-11 in the Portage Trail Conference County Division. Streetsboro improved to 6-9 overall and 5-6 in the division.

Although the win put the Rockets on a three-game win streak, Streetsboro head coach Amanda Blazetic was anything but pleased. Though she had issues with the officiating, Blazetic said her team was asleep early on.

“We flat out just didn’t play well,” Blazetic said. “I think this was a humbling experience for our girls after the last two wins. I think this is a wake-up call.”

By contrast, Deighan was very happy with his team’s effort, noting leading scorer Ashleigh Pickens was absent due to a family vacation.

“She plays and we win by 20,” he said. “Our girls gave it all they had, but we only had five players [with experience] playing. We just had no legs left in the fourth quarter.”

Streetsboro took the lead early, thanks to a trio of three-pointers, but the Rockets missed a ton of layups which could have stretched the lead further.

Up 12-6 after one quarter, Streetsboro limited the Rovers to just one field goal in the second quarter — but couldn’t extend its lead.

Rootstown went 9-of-20 from the free-throw line in the second quarter alone, compared to 4-of-6 for the Rockets.

That free-throw shooting kept Rootstown within shouting distance, as Streetsboro took a 23-17 lead to halftime.

“The first half was really one of the worst we’ve had all season,” Blazetic said. “I really got on the girls. We told them they’re perfectly capable of making layups.”

While Blazetic said her team responded to the halftime speech, it was Rootstown which erupted early in the third quarter.

Sparked by the inside play of Haley Christani, Rootstown opened the quarter on a 12-2 run to take the lead. Christani led all scorers with 21 in the contest, while Amanda Savage added 11 points — all but three of which came from the charity stripe.

“We’re up seven late in the third quarter and we turn it over,” Deighan said. “That was the turning point.”

Blazetic said forward Jordan Genovese responded the most to her halftime rant, and Genovese hit a three-pointer late in the third quarter to bring the Rockets back to life.

Streetsboro trailed 33-30 after three quarters, but Blazetic saw her defense put the clamps on Rootstown early in the fourth. A free throw from Brandi Barkhurst was Rootstown’s only point in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Streetsboro’s offense finally started to get untracked as Genovese, guard Rachel Kolke, point guard Shawnee Spinks and center Jennifer Langford all elevated their games.

Kolke led the Rockets with 11 points, while Langford finished with seven points and 12 rebounds.

Although Christani hit a trio of layups in the game’s final two minutes, Streetsboro hit just enough free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The Rockets scored a commanding 49-21 victory in the junior varsity contest. Mikaela Dombrowski led Streetsboro with 13 points.

E-mail: mleonard@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3913