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ROCKY RIVER, OH – The Rocky River Pirates used a commanding defense and attention to detail in a 52-41 win over Padua to open this week’s Rocky River Association Holiday Classic. The Pirates were led by their dynamic senior Ava Patti who finished with 19 points.
Patti scored her 1,000th career point during the game as well, head coach Jamey Pfahl touched on how special that is, “Special is the perfect word, she works hard and is such a great leader and kid.”
Mackenzie Russell had a big third quarter which saw her finish the game with 12 points. Freshman Liz Lang continues to impress underneath as she totaled 9 while fellow freshman Oliva Dewey had 6. Rori Vesy had 4 while Lenore wright finished with 2 for the Pirates.
The Bruins were led by Ella Figliano with 16 as she hit a shot from long distance in each quarter today. Sophia Spade looked sharp as well with 5 big points for the Bruins. Ashley Rypiak tacked on 6 for the Bruins while Ally Tonsing had 7 while Alyssa Helman had 6.
The first quarter was a bit slow as points were hard to come by. Ava Patti got it going for the Pirates 90 seconds in with a bucket, but outside of that, points were hard to come by early. Padua’s first point came 4 minutes in on a Tonsing foul shot. The only Bruin field goal of the quarter came on an Ella Figliano three ball with 2:55 left. The quarter belonged to Patti however as she had 7 of her teams 8 points as River led 8-6 after one. Padua had their chances from the foul line, but missed 5 foul shots.
Head Coach of the Pirates Jamey Pfahl, touched on what they need to do to avoid another slow start, “We have been coming out slow, and we need to change something up as it is effecting our game.”
The second quarter saw history as an Ava Patti bucket a few minutes into it, marked her 1,000th career point. The quarter also saw a nice three ball exchange between Figliano and Dewey. The Pirates ended the quarter on a mini run that saw them take a 21-13 lead into the break.
The half began with a 5-0 run from Padua after an early three ball from Rypiak cut it to 21-18, but then a three pointer by Mackenzie Russell sparked a large and long River Run that saw the Pirates grab their first double digit lead of the game at 33-23 with 2:29 left to go in the quarter. The Pirates extended it to 39-26 by quarters end, thanks to 8 from Mackenzie Russell in that stretch.
Four straight points from Sophie Spade of Padua cut it back to single digits in the early moments of the fourth quarter at 39-30. The Bruins finished the game on a run as well, but it was not enough as the Pirates hung on for the 52-41 win.
The Pirates will now play the North Ridgeville Rangers who won their game over Marlington, in the championship game tomorrow at 1pm.
