Girls basketbal: Having fun at home

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Rosemount guard Meghan Schuster drives to the basket during Friday night’s 54-42 loss at Farmington.

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The Rosemount girls basketball team has been through quite a bit in just six games this season.

The Irish already have lost two key players to injury at different times. They lost their first two games at the Hamline tournament, and then rallied to win three straight at home, once in triple overtime.

Rosemount (3-3) has certainly entertained the home fans, but is still looking for its first road win.

While the Irish are winless on the road and unbeaten at home, coach Sam McDonald credits it more to the teams Rosemount has played and the performance that particular night, including against Farmington last Friday.

“I think one thing that the Hamline tournament does, is it kind of already gives us that once through for road games,” McDonald said. “I don’t think it had to do with being our first regular season road game not in a tournament. I don’t think it was a factor. It was that they executed better than we did in the second half.”

Last week, the Irish beat Rochester Mayo, 64-54, before losing a day later at Farmington, 54-42.

Rosemount will certainly have its chances to win on the road. The Irish don’t play at home again until Jan. 4 against Bloomington Jefferson.

After a game at No. 2 ranked Lakeville North tomorrow night, Rosemount plays at Apple Valley on Dec. 21 and will take part in the Grand Rapids tournament on Dec. 29 and 30.

Facing the No. 2 Panthers tomorrow will make recovering from the Farmington loss very tough.

Against Farmington, the Irish held their own in the first half and were trailing 28-25 at halftime. But the Tigers held strong on their home court.

“I thought we played really well in the first half,” McDonald said. “We were really outsized in that game at pretty much every position. I thought we were doing some good things. We kept our composure. We were down early, but had a nice comeback toward the end of the first half. To Farmington’s credit, I told our girls after the game, they ran their stuff and executed their offense and defense better than we did in the second half. They got it to their shooters and scorers in good position, and we weren’t able to do that.

“I didn’t think we played bad, but they executed better than we did in the second half.”

Rachel Hoeppner led the Irish with 12 points, but Rosemount shot just 23.5 percent as a team. Laura Bodurtha added 10 points.

Execution wasn’t a problem against Rochester Mayo. The Irish were even performing with some last-minute adjustments.

A slow start led the coaching staff to make some defensive adjustments, and the players responded.

“We got off to kind of a slow start in that game,” McDonald said. “I thought the girls did a great job of adjusting to some tweaks and changes in our offense and defense and they executed those changes and played really well.

“And it helps when Rachel shoots lights out like that.”

Hoeppner scored 25 points on 9 of 18 shooting. She connected on 4 of 8 from 3-point territory, and added four rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Brooke Stevens scored 16 points and had five rebounds and five assists.

Tags: girls basketball, sports, rosemount, irish, prep