by The Rocky River Pirates came back from a 6-point halftime deficit to capture a 58-50 victory over the visiting North Ridgeville Rangers today in the opening round of the holiday tournament. The Pirates have proven this season multiple times that they are never out of any game. I spoke with head coach Jamey Pfahl as to why that is, “Our word for the year was relentless, and that no team can run with us for 32 minutes and if they can, they will have to prove it. That is a great North Ridgeville team, very well coached but we are never out of a game and just relentlessly attack. “
A big reason they came back to win was the fourth quarter defense that held the Rangers to just one field goal in the fourth quarter. Coach Pfahl explains why they were able to do that, “Coach Hammond does a great job of drawing everything up, and kind of switching things up. We have hard practices and work hard. This helps them learn how to play tired if we have too.”
The leading scorer for the Pirates was Ava Patti who absolutely took things over late. Patti finished with 30 points on the afternoon. She had 11 field goals and went 8 of 8 from the line, with 4 foul shots and 8 points in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Coach Pfahl shares this on what makes Patti special, “She is an athlete and leads our team with that relentless attack, and I’m just so proud of her.”
Patti’s big day led the Pirates, but several of her teammates saw the scoresheet as well with that relentless attack. Annika Mocho had 7 while Natalie Swallow had 11 and Kylie Krane had 5. Mackenzie Russell chipped in with 2.
The Rangers were led by Grace Kingery with 20, while Gabby Thibodeaux and Maddie Eldridge had 3 each. Kat Crevda poured in 10 points for a double-digit night while Freshman sharpshooter Reyna Balderas had 6 from long range for 7 total points while Brooke Lime finished the Ranger scoring with 7 points as well.
The Rangers raced out to a 13-5 lead in the early moments of the game. Thanks in part to 10 quick points from Grace Kingery and a 3 ball from Maddie Eldridge. After the Pirates scored 5 straight to cut the lead to 13-10, the Rangers answered with 5 straight from Reyna Balderas and Brooke Lime to extend it back to 18-10. The quarter ended with the Rangers on top 18-12.
Both teams broke even in the second quarter as the game went to half still six points apart at 29-23. Patti had 6 in the quarter and was beginning to heat up. This was a sign of things to come as Patti put together a 22-point second half. 10 of those points came in the third as the Pirates drew it to 41-40 after three quarters, including the first 6 points of the half to tie it at 29-29 at one point.
The game remained close, 41-41 with a little under 4 minutes to go, as the Rangers were held scoreless. Eventually, the Pirates would begin to pull away, leading 50-44 with 2:13 to go in the game, and held on for the 58-50 win from there. Mackenzie Russell and Natalie Swallow had big shots down the stretch to help put it away.
Rocky River plays tomorrow at 3pm against Laurel for the Tournament Championship.
North Ridgeville plays tomorrow at 11am against Padua for the consolation game.
If you would like to sponsor either of these games, please contact me at coachvin14@yahoo.com
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North Ridgeville Lady Ranger Grace Kingery Reaches 1,000th Point as a Junior
