Coming off a tough opening night loss on Tuesday, the Reeths-Puffer girls basketball team could have easily folded up again on Friday at Zeeland East.
The Rockets had a bad first quarter and trailed 17-9 headed into the second.
Instead they kept digging and battling, and in the end it paid off. R-P rallied for an exciting 36-33 victory and captured its first victory of the season.
Raquel Walker
The Rockets made their comeback possible by playing great defense. After the bad first quarter, they only allowed the Chix to score 16 points in the final three quarters, including only two in the pivotal fourth quarter.
The Rockets trailed 24-16 at halftime, then outscored Zeeland East 13-7 in the third quarter to pull within two points, 31-29, after three quarters.
Addison Mitchelson had four points in the third, Grace Tindall nailed a triple, and three other Rockets also scored points.
R-P stole the win with a 7-2 advantage in the final eight minutes. Raquel Walker scored four points down the stretch, Olivia Ambler added two and Jaslynn Kops hit a free throw.
Grace Tindall
“Our girls showed tremendous heart and resilience tonight, especially on the defensive end in the fourth quarter, when they locked in and made it incredibly tough for Zeeland East to score,” said R-P head coach Rodney Walker, whose team is now 1-1.
“I’m so proud of how they competed with high intensity from start to finish, and I truly believe that great defense fuels great offense. I’m hopeful we will carry this momentum forward.”
Walker finished with 16 points for the Rockets while Tindall totaled seven points. Ashlyn David and Kops snared seven and six rebounds, respectively, while Walker had four assists.