After falling to the Battle High School (BHS) Spartans 57-56 last year — RBHS varsity girls’ first loss to BHS in the team’s history — the Bruins came out on top by 16 points Thursday, Jan. 18 57-41.
Although the team beat the Spartans, the Bruins started slow — BHS scored the first points of the game, followed by a RBHS foul. The rival high schools were tied 4-4 halfway through the first quarter.
Junior guard Tylor McCallister said while the energy was strong leading up to the game, she was still nervous to face BHS after last year’s results.
“Going into the game I was nervous but also super excited,” McCallister said. “I went in wanting to succeed so we as a team could get revenge on our loss to Battle last year.”
Justin Carter, RBHS freshmen girls head coach and varsity girls assistant coach, also said there were some nerves leading up to the game, but that the team prepared like they would for any other match-up. He said the coaching staff encouraged the team to relax, as out of the Bruins’ 26 total games throughout the normal season, they only get to play at home a handful of times.
“Of course, you want it a little more because it’s a conference game and a Columbia game, [but] we talked about just relaxing,” Carter said. “Sometimes it’s as easy as just putting the ball in the basket — we shoot on these hoops every day. We don’t get to play home games very often, we only have four. So sometimes when we get here we’re a little nervous, but we just need to relax a little.”
The Bruins went into halftime with a two point lead, but furthered the gap to six points by the end of the third quarter. Only a minute into the second half, sophomore forward/center Jayda Porter had 13 of the team’s 22 total points. She and Carter noted that the energy in the gym heightened during the second half, with lots of cheering and chanting from both RBHS and BHS students.
Carter also said that while the energy picked up after halftime, so did the Bruins’ playing, as they successfully worked the ball and had great passing. Furthermore, Porter said the team did a good job of getting the ball to the open person throughout the game.
“[When] we switched defenses, we started to play a lot better,” Carter said. “There [was] a lot of communication tonight, [especially] against a team that moves a lot and has a lot of action. You [have] to have great communication, and I felt like we really did that in the second half.”
There were many highlights from Thursday’s game, Carter noted; McCallister acted as the team’s “captain of defense,” Porter scored over 20 points and junior guard Elli Porter sank five 3-pointers. However, along with these successes, Jayda Porter said that most importantly, the team was happy while playing.
“What sticks out to me the most in these types of games is when we are all clearly having fun and smiling on the court,” Jayda Porter said. “The energy was good [and] everyone was excited.”
The Bruins are set to face another local rival, the Hickman Kewpies, Jan. 25, along with the Helias Crusaders Feb. 22 for RBHS’ Senior Night. However, Jayda Porter said the team’s ultimate goal is to win state, and Carter said they will not be taking any games lighter or heavier than the others. Currently, the Bruins are 12-3.
“We just [have] to keep taking it one game at a time, and you can’t overlook any opponent with a schedule like we have — we play a really tough schedule to get ourselves ready for the postseason. We’re on a streak right now, [and] we just need to keep stringing [wins] together one at a time.”
Did you watch the Bruins make a comeback over the Spartans Thursday night? Let us know in the comments below.
