by The Rocky River Pirates faced the Lutheran West Longhorns on February 12th, 2025 and won 46-37. The first quarter started off strong for the Pirates with baskets from Nora Bruder and Claudia Roche. The Longhorn defense was able to steal the ball afterwards, and Taylor Albrecht drove down court to score a three pointer, followed by baskets from Aliciana Medina and Maddie Kandrach.
The Pirates weren’t fond of the newfound Lutheran West lead, however, and Emma Vladescu and Libby Lang both managed to score. Jalia Garner then scored for the Longhorns, followed by a three pointer from Rocky River’s Bridget Carlin to close the quarter at a score of 11-14, Lutheran West.
At the start of the second quarter Pirate Nora Bruder attacked the basket scoring three consecutive three pointers, along with a fourth from Olivia Dewey. Both teams displayed great defense after the fact, not allowing many more baskets on either side. Eventually, Ella McCarty and Maddie Kandrach both scored for Lutheran West to end the half at a score of 23-20, Pirates.
Maddie Kandrach started off the second half with a bang, scoring almost immediately for the Longhorns. After a foul, Claudia Roche was able to score a free throw for Rocky River, and followed it up with a three point shot. The Pirates dominated the ball this quarter, keeping it away from Lutheran West, enabling Olivia Dewey to score 5 points, and Nora Bruder to make a basket. Attempting to make a comeback, Lutheran West’s Maddie Kandrach and Jalia Garner both scored to end the third at 34-30, Pirates.
The fourth quarter was tense as it was unsure which team would win the game with such a close score. The Pirates really brought it at the beginning, though, starting out the final quarter with baskets from Libby Lang, Emma Vladescu, and Claudia Roche. Both teams displayed great defense, but this led to a few fouls as both the next Lutheran West and Rocky River Points could be attributed to free throw shots. Ava Adya scored another basket for Lutheran West with just a few seconds left, but it wasn’t enough to secure the win. The game ended with a score of 46-37, Rocky River.
After the game I had the opportunity to talk to Rocky River Girls Basketball head coach Jamey Pfhal, and I asked him if there was any added pressure going into the game as it was the first since becoming Great Lakes Conference champions. “We were a bit worried,” he told me, “because we didn’t want to have a letdown game. We told the girls that we needed them to hit their shots, and that if they weren’t hitting their shots they needed to rely on our defense, because it hasn’t failed us this year”.
The top scorers for Rocky River were Nora Bruder, Olivia Dewey, Claudia Roche, Emma Vladescu, and Libby Lang. The top Lutheran West scorers were Maddie Kandrach, Aliciana Medina, Ella McCarty, Jalia Garner, and Taylor Albrecht.
