Rome’s girls basketball team dominates on defense to beat Woodland 60-18.
Rome’s Lady Wolves dominate on defense to build up a 4-0 start to the season.
Rome High head girls’ basketball coach Jason Harris said his hope is for his players to grow at a consistent rate this season and not reach their peak too early.
Two weeks into their schedule, however, has shown that it’s going to take something extra to slow down the Lady Wolves.
The team picked up its’ second Region 7-5A win in a row Friday night at home by defeating Woodland 60-18 with a brutal defensive performance that held the visiting Lady Wildcats to single-digit scoring in each period. Rome opened region play Tuesday with a 79-21 road win over Paulding County and is now 4-0.
“We’re trying to stay steady and not peak too fast. We want to be steady in our maturity as we go through the season, but I’m pleased with how we’re maturing. And that’s what I just told the girls,” Harris said after Friday’s victory.
“We just want to make sure we continue to play hard. That’s what we kind of hang our hat on, playing hard and playing that tenacious defense, and I think we’re doing that right now.”
Senior guard Tarrah Gibson and freshman Ta’emmica Nation set the stage early on as part of a 10-2 run for Rome at the start of the game. A 16-6 lead after the first period grew to a 27-12 lead by halftime and the Lady Wolves rolled from there.
The dagger came midway through the third period when a layup by Aleeyah Blanchard began a 23-0 run for Rome, with Woodland held scoreless for more than eight minutes. The Lady Wolves dominated the turnover game, producing steals that more often than not turned into points and staying vigilant under the net.
“We want to impose our will, per se,” Harris said. “We’re going to always apply pressure, and I think everyone knows that. And when you apply pressure you make people have to make decisions in a split second. That’s what we pride ourselves on is pushing the tempo and making sure we are imposing our will defensively.”
Trenishia Adams led all scorers with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.
The freshman got more and more confident as the game went on, scoring eight points in the mercy-rule shortened fourth period that included a pair of 3’s from the corner.
“We pulled her up when one of our starters went down and she’s been a pleasant addition and a surprise on our varsity team,” Harris said. “She can shoot it, so that’s what we hope she’ll continue to do as she matures.”
Gibson finished with 10 points and two 3’s, while Nation and Amberly Brown had eight apiece.
“We want to get one percent better every day at practice. And if you’re steadily learning each day you’ll never level out,” Harris said. “So we always want to continue to learn, continue to grow, but what we’ve been harping on as a staff is just building the chemistry of the team. If we keep improving our chemistry, I don’t think we’ll ever peak, because chemistry is so important to this game.”
The Lady Wolves travel to Dawsonville this afternoon to take on Grayson in the North Georgia Report Dawson County Shootout at 2 p.m.