Streetsboro Rockets girls’ basketball Coach Carl Singer acknowledged it was only a matter of time before his squad was defeated. That time came when the Rockets lost 81-50 against Copley at Copley High School last Wednesday.
“I would say it was a bad time to not play well and it was our first game against a really good opponent. We did not play up to our standard and it definitely comes back to bite you when you are playing against team like that,” said the Rockets’ nine-year coach.
Despite recording a 7-0 record at the beginning of the season, Singer noted that Streetsboro (7-1, 6-0) had not been battle-tested yet. Its first challenge came against an Indians team that has been Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II district runners-up in the past two seasons.
“It was going to be a battle for 32 minutes,” Singer added. “We are only eight games into the season, and I think it is important that we see some challenges. Copley is the number three ranked team in the state right now and they showed why.”
The Rockets got off to a fast start in the first quarter, taking a 10-7 lead but Copley was fueled by a 9-3 run to take a six-point advantage at the end of the period. According to Singer, Streetsboro became sloppy with its ball-handling and the Indians pounced on that advantage.
Once Copley’s offense was sparked by its transition game, the momentum continued building in their favor. Senior guard Izzy Callaway tallied 10 points in the second period, pushing the Indians to a 40-22 advantage.
“She is a really good player and we knew that going in,” Singer noted. “Our goal was to make sure we challenged her shots as much as we could. A lot of it was just us not doing a good job of getting back on defense so she is too good of a player to give uncontested shots to.”
The Indians were one of the few teams that Streetsboro had encountered this year that could match Streetsboro’s athleticism and speed. The Rockets still had a size and length advantage but Singer said the Indians were more physical on defense.
He also acknowledged that while both squads have competitive rosters, the biggest difference was Copley had already faced a slew of teams projected to make deep runs in the playoffs while Streetsboro’s Metro Athletic Conference schedule was filled with teams that are still rebuilding.
The lone opponent that had had given the Rockets a run for their money was Akron Ellet, the first team they played this year and since then it had been smooth sailing against the MAC.
“Copley played against Magnificat, Olmsted Falls and Solon and so they were a little bit more battle-tested where we had just mostly played our league schedule to this point and had not had any big challenges,” he added. “We have gotten away with some things and it makes it tough in that first game when you run into something like that to be ready for it.”
Despite the 5-foot-7 Callaway’s big second quarter, Copley’s offense was well-balanced with seven players scoring in the first half while only five Rockets scored points.
In addition to turnover woes, Streetsboro’s shooting suffered and shot only 35% from the floor in the game, a far cry from its usual shooting clip of over 50% so far this season.
Singer noted the Rockets tried pressuring Copley more in the second half to try and force some turnovers, but Callaway continued being a steadying force, scoring 11 points in the third quarter to stretch the Indians’ lead to 61-37.
“They were getting some easy looks out of that and it just changes the game and that is where we knew if we got ourselves in that situation, we knew we would be in trouble and we did and credit to them they made shots that were there,” he said.
Despite the loss against Copley, it is not the last time the Rockets will face a state-ranked opponent this season and Singer said he was optimistic that his squad could apply the lessons from that game against some of their future opponents such as Massillon Jackson or Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s.
According to Singer, although it was nice being undefeated but going perfect in the regular season does not mean much to him if the result is his team gets ousted early in the postseason.
“We were really excited on Wednesday night and said before the game whether we win or lose we are going to find out where we are at,” he added. “Hopefully it is a message to the girls that this is where we need to be and what we need to do to get to the level we need to play at.”
The Rockets will begin the New Year when they host MAC foe Norton at Streetsboro High School on Friday at 7 p.m.
