San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Roberson sisters combine for 40 in rout
Clark jumped out to a 23-7 lead in the first quarter and built upon that to cruise by Brandeis 6449 Friday night at Northside Gym
Clark (16-2, 2-0 District 28-6A) opened the game by making 11 of its first 14 shots, and the Cougars forced the Broncos (13-6, 2-1) to miss nine of their 12 shot attempts in the opening quarter.
Sisters Arianna and Aaliyah Roberson combined to score 40 points for Clark, the area’s No. 1 Class 6A team. Arianna Roberson, a sophomore, scored 22 points, while Aaliyah, a junior, added 18 points. Both sisters made their presence known early, intimidating Brandeis shooters in the paint as Clark had two blocks on back-to-back possessions halfway through the first quarter
Feeding off good ball movement and passing, seven of Clark’s opening 11 baskets came in the paint. Often during the game, the Roberson sisters played the high and low post game, with Aaliyah feeding the ball from the top of the key to her younger sister Arianna, who would use her size down in the paint to score or get fouled and make numerous trips to the foul line.
“I thought the girls did a good job of just executing our game plan of pushing the ball, but being disciplined on offense, getting an opportunity to feed our bigs and keep the ball moving with our inside-out game,” Clark coach Rihanna Houy said.
Houy added: “Our bigs are just phenomenal. I mean they get two feet in the paint, it’s really hard to defend anyone of them. Arianna is doing a great job down low for us. If she can get her two feet in and get them sealed, she’s pretty hard to defend even with the double teams she is getting. Aaliyah does a great job of posting up as well and getting her two feet in, but Aaliyah also has a little bit of range, so whenever she has the opportunity she knows she has the green light to shoot. So that offers a little bit versatility, kind of helps us out and gives us an edge.”
In addition, sophomore point guard Natalie Huff scored 11 points and dished out several assists for Clark. She also used her speed to get past Broncos defenders to score in the lane and held her own in defending Brandeis’ Rian Forestier, last year’s Express-News Newcomer of the Year.
After the Cougars went on their 23-7 run to start the game, Brandeis whittled the Clark lead to 35-25 at 1:20 in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Marisa Seaton.
But Clark ended the first half with momentum as Sydney Pritchard stole the ball and passed to Aaliyah Roberson on a fast break transition basket to put the Cougars up 37-25 at halftime.
With Arianna Roberson scoring 11 of her 22 points in the second half, Clark went up by as much as 20 points in the second half before Brandeis, led by Forestier and Seaton, whittled the game margin to 15 points.
Forestier led Brandeis with 21 points, followed by Seaton with 16 points and Alexis Parker with 10 points.