MUSKEGON TWP. - It takes a leader with the right temperament to develop a team of talented youngsters.
Reeths-Puffer girls basketball coach Rodney Walker is displaying the necessary patience.
His Rockets have been a bit of a mystery so far this season. They opened with a loss, then rattled off five straight wins and turned a lot of heads.
But now the Rockets have dropped four straight games, including a tough 42-38 loss to rival Mona Shores on Tuesday at R-P’s Dan Beckeman Arena.
R-P's Raquel Walker goes airborne for a bucket. Photo/Nick Fuller
Those kind of ups and downs might be enough to drive some coaches crazy, but Walker knows he has a promising but still pretty green squad, and he’s taking it all in stride.
Last year R-P relied on a rotation of freshmen and sophomores with potential but almost no experience. This year those girls are sophomores and juniors and have more court time under their belts, but are still learning and growing.
“I think the girls are doing a good job of learning as we go,” Walker said. “We still have a young team and I am pleased with where we are at right now. We are working on gaining confidence so they can believe in themselves. It’s all part of the growing process.”
The Rockets played well in spurts on Tuesday, and their typically stingy defense kept the Sailors from pulling away, but they couldn’t deliver enough offense down the stretch.
R-P's Ashlyn David tries to get a shot off. Photo/Nick Fuller
R-P used a pair of triples, from Grace Tindall and Ashlyn David, to take a 10-9 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter proved to be a big problem, with the Sailors outscoring R-P 16-6 and grabbing a 25-16 lead at halftime. The Rockets opened the quarter with a bucket, then the Sailors went on an 11-2 run for about four minutes.
The Rockets were 0-for-4 from the field in that stretch and committed five costly turnovers.
R-P switched to its lockdown zone defense in the third quarter and held the Sailors to six points. The Rockets scored nine in the quarter, led by Raquel Walker’s four points and a triple from Trinity Moore, and cut their deficit to 31-25 heading into the fourth.
R-P head coach Rodney Walker. Photo/Nick Fuller
The game was very tight the rest of the way. R-P opened the fourth with three free throws that made the score 31-28. David hit a layup with 4:10 remaining, cutting the Rockets’ deficit to 32-30.
R-P’s Abrianna Do made a layup with 3:20 left, making the score 34-32, but that was as close as the home team would get.
Mona Shores went on a late 8-3 run to take control down the stretch. The Rockets had a 3-0 burst in the last 40 seconds, but it wasn’t enough.
Raquel Walker finished with 14 points for R-P while David totaled nine. Walker also had six rebounds, four assists and three steals. David had five rebounds while Jaslynn Kops had four rebounds and two assists.
David plays tight defense. Photo/Nick Fuller
"I thought they got some easy transition baskets, and that was pretty much the deciding factor,” Coach Walker said. “Defensively I thought we did a good job. We got it down to two points, but we weren’t able to capitalize on a steal and tie it up.
“We just couldn’t get over the hump. We had several opportunities at the start of the third quarter – three or four opportunities to score and we turned it over, and we weren’t able to capitalize on some of their turnovers.
"It’s not like we are losing games by 30 or 40 points. We just have to find ways to win them. We’ve got to learn to capitalize and play from the neck up. We’re getting close to understanding what that looks like, and we’re learning as we go.”