Only one win stands between the Streetsboro Rockets girls’ basketball team’s chances of winning a share of the Metro Athletic Conference banner. The Rockets moved closer to achieving their goal when they dominated league rival Akron Coventry 51-26 to celebrate senior night last Thursday evening at Streetsboro High School.
“It puts us a step closer to one of our goals which is to win the conference,” said Coach Carl Singer. “Again, with it being senior night, it is always a special thing to get a win on that night. On Thursday night, we wanted to do that for the seniors, and we were glad we were able to.”
All Streetsboro (16-4, 12-1) needs to do is win its final conference game of the season and it will wrap up a share of the MAC championship with Norton, marking the first time in school history that the Rocket girls will have won a league title.
According to the nineth-year coach, although sharing the MAC banner does not exactly meet the expectations Streetsboro set for this season, which was to win the league championship outright, it does not diminish what the Rocket girls have and can still accomplish.
“I think it just creates an expectation within our program of what we are capable of doing and what is possible, and you take little steps to get to that point and now hopefully that we are here we have set the bar high, and our goal is to keep it there,” he added.
After previously losing three of four games, Streetsboro has rebounded nicely with last Thursday’s win marking its fifth straight win. The Rockets have dominated Akron Coventry since their days in the Portage Trail Conference Metro Division and that has not changed since the schools joined the MAC, with Streetsboro not having lost a game to the Comets since the league’s formation.
“Coventry is one of the teams that is in our league,” Singer noted. “They play hard and have just had some tough seasons and we know if we do not show up, it can still be a ball game so we have to come in and be ready to go.”
In the first quarter, the Rockets relied on their defense to take control, allowing only two field goals to go ahead 10-5. Streetsboro’s defensive dominance was sparked by the all-senior starting five of guard Cara Tiller, guard/forward Maiya Taylor, forward Kaleigh Lilly, forward Ella Kassan and guard Maddy Hajec.
Singer said that with it being senior night, the Rockets’ graduating class was more than ready to set the tone early.
The Rockets’ defensive momentum continued in the second period as Singer sprinkled in the usual starters, and they carried on the defensive standard set by the upperclassmen.
“I think we started to get some turnovers and we rotated some of our normal starters in a little bit which got us back into our normal routine a little bit more,” Singer said. “Once we got things going on the defensive end and got some steals, a couple of shots fell and we just felt a little bit better and started rolling a little bit better.”
Streetsboro’s offense had a slow start but ignited in the second quarter, outscoring the Comets by an 18-6 margin to take a commanding 28-11 lead into the half, with five players scoring points.
In addition to limiting Akron Coventry to single digits in each of the first two periods, Streetsboro’s defense continued pressuring the Comets and surrendered only one field goal in the second period.
“I think we just saw opportunities,” said Singer. “We were able to get in the passing lanes a little bit and saw some opportunities to get steals and force them into some tough situation’s and we did a nice job of getting a shot up.”
In the third period, the Rockets put the finishing touches on the game by allowing only five points, extending their lead to 39-11. Although Streetsboro only scored 11 points, Singer said his squad made their point by maintaining momentum at the beginning of the third period.
Despite a dominating defensive performance, Singer acknowledged the Rockets still had a few things to work on, including their free throw shooting, only converting five-of-16 from the foul line.
“That was by far one of the bigger frustrations of the night,” Singer said. “We did get to the line a decent amount and probably could have gotten there more but it is just one of those things where it is kind of contagious.”
Following the final league game of the season against MAC foe Ravenna on Wednesday evening, the Rockets will end their season with a road game against Canfield.
