Although it was only the first game of the season, the Streetsboro Rockets girls’ basketball team felt like they were competing in a playoff game. The Rockets played hard but ultimately were defeated by Copley 64-60 in double overtime last Friday evening at Streetsboro High School.
“Copley is a state semifinalist team from last year and we played them last year and know that they are a really tough team,” said Coach Carl Singer. “They have experience and have been there before and that is why we wanted to play them in the first game. We are a little disappointed. We can’t blame it on us being young or being inexperienced. Mostly seniors and juniors played the whole game and we talked about the mistakes that were made and we need to get that fixed and it needs to be done.”
The last time the Rockets (0-1, 0-0) faced Copley, the Indians dominated them 84-50 last season.
According to the 10th-year coach, it was probably one of the worst games Streetsboro played last year. While last season was in the past, the Rockets still felt that they had something to prove.
“We wanted to come out and show them that it was one bad game,” said junior forward Carlee Bedford. “We are not that team. We wanted to come out and show them that we could be better and do other things.”
Trailing 45-43 in the final minutes of the fourth period, the Rockets evened the score when senior center Naomi Benson banked in a jump shot with 1:10 left in regulation. Neither team could score the go-ahead bucket, sending the game to overtime.
The Indians maintained the lead throughout the game largely due to their outside shooting and continued attacking from beyond the arc in the first overtime, burying a pair of 3-pointers from junior point guard Evelyn McKnight and junior guard Zoey Van Voorhis to take a 53-51 lead.
Streetsboro once again responded as the 6-foot-0 Bedford collected an offensive rebound and converted the putback, tying the game against at 53-53.
In a game where the Rockets always needed to respond with a big basket, Bedford delivered by scoring nine points in the overtime periods.
“Carlee is a big-time player to be honest,” noted Singer of the junior post player, who tallied 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists. “I don’t believe she gets the attention she should get. We know she is going to go out there and make plays for us. She honestly grew up a ton last year in making big plays in our tournament run and I am happy with the big plays she made at the end.”
The teams stayed deadlocked throughout the remainder of the first overtime period, forcing a second overtime.
In a game that saw several lead changes since the fourth quarter and very few substitutions, Bedford acknowledged that the Rockets were fighting some tired legs but still found the energy to push through.
“We were definitely a little winded,” she said. “It was just the motivation for us to win that was keeping us going.”
Copley’s outside shooting continued being a problem for the Rockets in the second overtime period, as the Indians connected on two more 3-pointers and Streetsboro could not match their outside shooting, with their first and only 3-point shot of the contest coming in the final seconds from Bedford after Copley had pushed its lead to 63-57.
Singer said that poor outside and free throw shooting and the failure to prevent Copley from collecting offensive rebounds to extend possessions were the three critical areas that Streetsboro fell short in.
“That about sums it up,” he said. “We knew that they could shoot the ball and we scouted it and knew it was coming and that was another conversation that we had which is that we need to be able to follow a scouting report better, we can’t give up shots to shooters. They are going to knock them down. We did not shoot the ball well tonight but that is going to happen sometimes. That can’t be an excuse or reason why we lose and the free throws are just frustrating on every end. That is something we are going to get some work on and improve with.”
As well as the Rockets’ starting rotation performed with four of its starting five returning in junior guard Olivia Johnson-Wilson, Benson, Bedford and senior guard Sydney Abbuhl, depth was an issue. After being spoiled with having four seniors come off the bench last year, Singer acknowledged that Streetsboro’s bench has some things to figure out this year.
After another home game against Metro Athletic Conference foe Akron Coventry on Tuesday evening, the Rockets will return after the Thanksgiving holiday to face MAC foe Akron Springfield in Lakemore on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
