MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP - It’s hard to be at your best when you’re playing with four fouls and one wrong move can end your night and hurt your team.
But somehow Reeths-Puffer’s leading scorer, Ariel Walker, still managed to dig deep for some magic when it mattered the most on Tuesday.
After scoring zero points for most of the game, Walker knocked down a huge three-pointer with just under four minutes left, then got two huge steals in the final 1:25 to help the Rockets squeak out a difficult 34-27 victory over Zeeland East in an O-K Green conference matchup on their home court.
Walker’s late steals allowed the Rockets to maintain control of the ball, work the clock and draw fouls down the stretch. R-P sealed things up with seven points from the line as the clock ticked down.
R-P's Brooklynn Tornes moves past defenders with a screen from teammate Irelyn Niklasch.
“I wasn’t even thinking about scoring, I was just looking for my teammates and doing what I could on defense,” said Walker, who came into the game averaging 11.6 points per contest and finished Tuesday with just three.
“Then I obviously hit the three-pointer and had a couple steals, but I wasn’t trying to do too much because they were calling fouls pretty heavily.”
Walker had two fouls by halftime and two more in the third quarter, including her fourth with 2:13 remaining. She is a skilled player and a senior leader, however, and remained calm until she found a way to make a difference for her team.
“I thought that was huge,” said R-P coach Rodney Walker about his daughter’s performance. “You don’t want to get that fifth foul because your team needs you, especially in the clutch, so I think she did a good job of working her way through that.
“Those two steals and the three-pointer gave us the momentum we needed to finish the game. I thought Sophia Hekkema also did a great job hitting free throws under a lot of pressure at the end.”
R-P's Sophia Hekkema plays tight defense on a Zeeland East player.
Reeths-Puffer extended its winning streak to three games and improved to 6-5 overall on the season and 3-1 in the conference standings.
“We started the season playing a lot of tough teams, and now I think we’re hitting our stride,” Coach Walker said. “Now we just need to get more practice time in.”
On paper, the game should not have been so difficult for the Rockets, who were facing a team that came in with a 3-7 record and no conference wins.
But they could never get going on offense because their shots were just not falling.
R-P converted only 10 of 48 shots from the floor but made 12 of 20 from the line to compensate for their lack of marksmanship.
Reeths-Puffer coach Rodney Walker rallies his troops during a time out.
The Rockets also kept themselves alive with an aggressive man-to-man defense that resulted in 19 steals, forced many of Zeeland East’s 24 turnovers and limited the Chix to just 20 shots from the floor.
“It was just one of those games where you keep shooting, taking open shots, and you just don’t see the ball go in,” Coach Walker said. “Defense really dictated the win tonight. We locked in and got some easy buckets in transition for some important points.”
The first quarter was very slow for both teams and Zeeland East led 6-4 at the buzzer.
The Chix outscored the Rockets 9-8 in the second quarter and led 15-12 at halftime.
R-P got back in the game with a 9-2 run at the start the third quarter to take a 21-17 lead. Ashlynn Anderson led the brief outburst with a pair of layups for the Rockets.
R-P's Megan Barmes (2) looks for a pass.
The Reeths-Puffer offense went cold again after that, however, and the Rockets clung to a 22-21 lead heading into the fourth.
Hekkema hit an early bucket the Rockets in the final quarter, Walker nailed her three-pointer with 3:51 remaining, then R-P sewed up the night with the seven late free throws. Hekkema hit five of those crucial shots while Megan Barmes nailed the final two.
Hekkema finished with 15 points and Anderson added six for the Rockets. Anderson snagged six rebounds, Irelyn Niklasch and Hekkema each had five and Billie Tryska added four.
Barmes led the steal parade with four while Walker, Hekkema and Brooklynn Tornes each added three.
