RBHS defeated Providence Road rivals Hickman High School (HHS) at home, Thursday, Jan. 25 with a final score of 66-41.
Opening the game, the Bruins won the tipoff, followed by a quick pass from sophomore forward/center Jayda Porter to junior guard Mari Miller for the first points of the game. The Bruins’ next eight points either went through or came from Porter, and combined with some stout defense, they finished the first quarter with a 15-11 lead over the visiting Kewpies.
RBHS Varsity assistant coach David Smith said that HHS is a “very tough minded, highly skilled basketball team,” and that the Kewpies put an emphasis on boxing out their opponents and making offensive rebounds.
“We really focused on keeping our girls grounded, meaning don’t go flying after [the ball], communicate and keep someone on the ball at all times,” Smith said. “I think our girls responded to those challenges that we gave them.”
The Bruins started the second quarter with a mid range jumper from junior shooting guard Elli Porter. Off the backs of strong rebounding from the entire team, RBHS made five straight three-point shots, two coming from junior guard and defensive specialist Malia Chievous and three from sophomore forward Cora Smith.
“We like to take a lot of threes regularly,” Chievous said. “The middle is usually really busy with double teams on our post players, so having the ability to have everyone on the outside ready to shoot is what we try to do. I also feel like making threes gives us a lot of momentum and good vibes so we tend to play better.”
Heading into the half, RBHS held a 43-17 lead over the Kewpies, and carried that momentum into the third quarter with a sticky defense and dynamic passing game. Both Elli Porter and Cora Smith sank another three, but it was the Kewpies full-court press that marked the third quarter. Utilizing this new defensive set, the Kewpies forced a turnover for a layup and a jump ball, forcing RBHS to call a timeout. The Bruins, however, did not falter at the defensive shift.
“When scouting for Hickman, we treated it like any other game,” Cora Smith said. “But I know that deep down this was a game we all wanted to win very badly. We knew that as long as we took care of business on the defensive end, our offense would come naturally and that’s exactly what happened.”
In the final quarter of the game, the Bruins kept up a strong defensive front and had a few back-door passes alongside another three point shot from Chievous to close out the game with a final score of 66-41. The victory brings RBHS to 13-3 this season, with an upcoming game against Cor Jesu Academy High School Jan. 30. David Smith said that while the team always wants to win, they are really focused on taking the season one game at a time, a sentiment that Chievous echoed.
“I think everyone on the outside has high expectations for this team because we finished second at state last year,” Chievous said. “We like to take it one game at a time or one milestone at a time: win conference, win district and then we will set new goals after each one so we can focus on one thing [at a time] and really live in the present.”
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