Lady Wolves race by Etowah for 6-AAAAAA win
WOODSTOCK — As the old saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. Turns out, fast and steady is a pretty successful recipe as well.
The Rome Lady Wolves highlighted all of their trademark qualities on Friday night, using their speed, pressure defense and transition game to steadily build their lead and overwhelm the homestanding Etowah Lady Eagles 57-30.
Rome, which has now won three straight games, improved to 14-7 overall and 7-2 in Region 6-AAAAAA.
The Lady Wolves’ usual defensive prowess was on display early on Friday, as they pounced quickly on Etowah. Rome scored the first six points of the game, then closed the quarter with a 9-0 burst to finish the period with an 18-4 lead. Rome scored layups off of three steals in the quarter and only allowed Etowah to score one field goal and two free throws.
The second quarter was more of the same. Etowah (7-14, 1-8) cut the gap to 24-12, but the Lady Wolves turned up the pressure from hot to sizzling, ripping off a 12-2 run to close the quarter and take a 36-14 lead into the locker room, all but eliminating any drama from the game.
“It helped that we were well-rested,” said Rome head coach Thomas Mcaboy, whose team hadn’t played since the previous Friday’s win at Allatoona. “We got off to a fast start, and I thought we looked good from start to finish tonight. We always want our defense to set up our offense. That’s been our gameplan since Day 1, and that’s how we thrive. We want to get as many shot opportunities as we can.”
The Lady Wolves stuck with that plan throughout the second half. After the Lady Eagles cut the lead to 20 points, 39-19, midway through the third quarter, Rome went on a tear, closing the period with a 16-3 run that was highlighted by backto-back-to-back steals in the final 90 seconds that led directly to eight points. Rome led 55-22 after that quarter and played its reserves almost exclusively in the final period.
“We want to teach our team to understand each game situation and to have the mentality to never let up,” Mcaboy said. “We want them to play smart and see things from a coach’s perspective. We know there are still a lot of things that we can do to get better.”
Rome saw all 13 players get into the game, and eight of them scored.
Breana Griffin had a game-high 19 points, while Jermiya Winston added 13.
Etowah was led by Megan Reed, who scored 13 points. However, she had little help, as no other player scored more than four.
The Lady Wolves, who maintained their hold of second place in the region, will travel to Sequoyah on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. tip-off before finishing the regular season with two home games against Creekview and No. 1-ranked River Ridge.
Rome will be the host site for the Region 6-AAAAAA tournament in February.
In the Rome-etowah boys game later on Friday:
Etowah 70, Rome 55
WOODSTOCK — If you don’t play disciplined defense, it can be hard to win a basketball game against an average offense.
If you don’t against a volatile offense like the Etowah Eagles, it’s almost impossible to win.
The Rome Wolves found that out the hard way on Friday night, giving up numerous transition baskets in a 70-55 loss to Etowah at the Eagles Nest.
The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in the state, remained perfect in Region 6-AAAAAA games at 9-0, and improved to 14-7 overall.
“They just outran us again,” said Rome head coach John Mcfather, whose team fell to Etowah 89-67 at home back on Jan. 4. “Etowah runs well and shoots well and they do a lot of things offensively at a high level. We just didn’t get back on defense consistently, and we gave up way too many lay-ups. You’ve got to stop the ball, first thing, and we didn’t do that early in the game. I thought we did better in the second half, but if we want to finish in the top four in the region and make the state playoffs, we’re going to have to fix those things.”
The Wolves (12-10, 5-4) dug themselves a hole from the start. Rome scored just one basket in the first three minutes of the game, while the high-flying Eagles were using their many weapons on offense.
Senior guard Brandon Rechsteiner, a Virginia Tech commit, opened the game with a long 3-pointer just 15 seconds into the action. Rome made it 5-3 at one point, but the Eagles then kicked their transition game into high gear. Chase Clemmons scored on an acrobatic layup and completed the three-point play with a free throw, and Aiden Weaver then hit a free throw.
Rechsteiner drilled another 3-pointer, and Weaver then threw down two dunks on back-toback possessions that put the Etowah crowd in a frenzy and forced Mcfather to call a timeout trailing 16-5.
“That’s a good team, and we just didn’t do a good job stopping the ball in the half-court or in transition,” he said. “We eventually got some guys in there that helped slow them down, but they got to us pretty quick.”
The Wolves cut the gap to 22-12 by the end of the first quarter, but the Eagles wing players got into the action early in the second period. Mason Etter and Dimitri Angelakos combined to score 10 straight points to build a 20-point lead, and it was an uphill battle for Rome the rest of the night to keep up with the frenzied Etowah offense. The Wolves never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
“Our defense always predicates our offense, and our guys were locked in tonight,” said Etowah head coach Jason Dasinger, whose team has won eight games in a row. “Rome plays hard and likes to push the ball, so we worked this week on boxing out and handling their pressure. But we really tried to get our guys to focus on defensive stops, because any team can go on a run against you if you start to relax. We’ve got the ability to go on scoring spurts because we have some very good offensive players, but I’ve told our guys we need to lock down on defense on every possession because any team can come back on you if you don’t do that.”
Indeed, Etowah got offensive contributions from up and down the lineup, in every imaginable form. The team finished with five dunks, six 3-point shots, and multiple transition buckets. The Eagles got all 16 players on their roster into the game, and eight of them scored, led by Rechsteiner’s 20 points. Weaver added 13 points, and Etter and Angelakos each scored 12.
Rome was led by Cameron Keith’s 10 points, while Braxton Wade scored nine and Jonathan Heath added eight.
The Wolves, who remain in fourth place in the region, travel to Sequoyah on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. before finishing the regular season at home against Creekview and River Ridge.