Rock Falls rolls past Newman in its season opener

Rockets too much for Comets in Sauk Valley Shootout

STERLING – The Rock Falls girls basketball team started the Sauk Valley Shootout hot on Wednesday, and the Newman Comets ended it a little cold.

The Rockets were too much for the Comets in a 71-14 win, but Newman coach JD Waldschmidt told his girls after the game that what they had just got done seeing was the kind of team they want to strive to be like.

Using a combination of speed and size, the Rockets (1-0) raced out to a 23-4 first-quarter lead and forced nearly 20 Comets turnovers by halftime. Their pair of 6-foot posts, Mallory Pinske and Emily Lego, were tough to stop inside, and they combined for 39 points on 18-for-25 shooting.

Newman dropped to 0-2 after a loss Monday to Sterling.

“They came out and took advantage in what they could take advantage of,” Waldschmidt said of the Rockets. “Their high-low was great. I didn’t think we had the same effort as Monday night, but I still thought we had good effort. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap to your opponent and say they’re that much better than us.”

The win was the first for new Rockets coach Dan Herrera, who took over this year from Eric Wolf. He liked seeing all 10 of his players contribute to the stat sheet: eight players nabbed at least two steals, and just as many scored at least once.

“After a long two weeks of practice and not playing on Monday, the girls were really anxious to play a game,” Herrera said. “They came out aggressive and ready to play. Defensively we did good, for the most part.”

The Rockets got out to a 13-0 lead before the Comets scored their first point; five straight points in that run came off of steals. Rock Falls rolled from there and led 42-7 at halftime, limiting Newman to just one field goal in 17 tries by that point. That one successful shot was a 3-pointer by Syrinidie Fowkes, who made another in the third quarter. She and Jess Johns led with six points each. Madison Duhon added five rebounds and four steals for the Comets.

“We want to focus more on our hustle,” Fowkes said, “getting back down the court, and keeping our heads up.”

Pinske and Lego looked for teammates to feed them the ball down low throughout the second half. Pinske had 13 of her game-high 21 points in the third quarter, and Lego had eight of her 18 points in the fourth, and finished off a double-double with 10 rebounds.

“It’s nice to get out on our first game and have everybody contribute,” Pinske said. “Running what we need to be able to work on, and understanding what we need to work on going forward, it was super nice that everybody got to play a part and got some good minutes.”

Jacee Sigel and Rylee Johnson led the Rockets with five assists each, and Taylor Reyna added nine points and five rebounds. Rock Falls will look to defend its Shootout championship from 2019 on Friday at Musgrove Fieldhouse against Sterling.

“In games all throughout the year, everybody’s got to be ready to play,” Herrera said. “If we do get tired, and if no one has any injuries, we’ve always got to be ready to play no matter what the score is or who the opponent is.”

The Comets have been outscored by at least 35 points in both of their games so far, but will get back to work and look to bounce back a week from Monday at home against Kewanee.

“Starting the year out with Sterling and Rock Falls, we want to compete with them and we want to play them,” Waldschmidt said. “We want to play teams that we know are better than us, because that’s how we know we can get better.

“I told the girls, this is the type of team we want to be. We want to be like Rock Falls.”

Cody Cutter

Cody Cutter

These days, Cody Cutter primarily writes for Sauk Valley Media's "Living" magazines and specialty publications in northern Illinois, including the monthly "Lake Lifestyle" magazine for Lake Carroll. He also covers sports and news on occasion; he has covered high school sports in northern Illinois for more than 20 years in online and print formats.