Ruble’s 31 leads Raiders by ’Cats

By Brooke Apple, bapple
Published:  Thursday, January 17, 2008 (11 months, 3 weeks ago)
Print

WAYNE TRACE — The Jefferson Wildcats traveled to the home of the Wayne Trace Raiders for a non-league girls basketball game but Becky Ruble’s 31 helped the hosts conquer the Wildcats 70-54.
Jefferson came out looking to try to stop the Raiders with their zone defense. However, the Raiders worked the ball on the outside to Ruble (7 3s overall), who drained three 3-pointers out of her 13 points in the first quarter. Jefferson struggled in the period, only making 25 percent of its shots and committed several turnovers. Jefferson had twice as many turnovers as the Raiders going into the short break between quarters, trailing 20-7.
“First quarter, they jumped out with the lead from the outside as we were not getting a hand in the shooters’ face from our zone defense. The second quarter, we changed to a man defense, which worked better for us,” stated Jefferson coach Dave Hoffman.
Jefferson (5-7) really picked up its game in the next period as they cut the Raiders’ scoring down by five and increased their scoring to 15. Jenna Miller (6 3s for the night) came out and hit a 3 for the Wildcats, also draining four shots from the charity stripe, on her way to a team-high 23 (bettering her sister Kayla’s game-high of 22 from last year). Both teams struggled a little more with handling the ball but they both made over 50 percent of their shots. Ruble made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Raiders ahead 35-22 going into the mid-game break.
“Jenna Miller played a great game along with Ashley Watkins and Stephanie Blockberger (10 points). She was able to score double digits after being out for five weeks; all three of these girls did a nice job,” continued Hoffman.
After the break, the teams came out ready to battle. Jefferson really cut down on its turnovers as they started handling the ball a lot better, staying calm instead of getting in a hurry. The teams cut down on their turnovers; their shooting percentages went down as well as neither could shoot over 50 percent in the third period. Ruble added three more 3-pointers to help her team overcome the Wildcats. Blockberger did a nice job underneath the basket for the Wildcats as she tallied four points after working hard and getting some breakaways for down-under shots. The Wildcats headed into the fourth quarter down by 20 points, 52-32.
“We adjusted better in the second half and we started to gamble a little. They are a nice team and handle the ball well. I was far more pleased with the effort in the second half as everything improved,” added Hoffman.
Jefferson was looking to come back and pull the win off but fell short as they were unable to hold off the Raiders. They outscored the Raiders (9-3) 22-18 in the final quarter but the Raiders had outscored them enough previously. Miller drained a trio of 3-pointers from three different spots in an attempt to help out the Wildcats. Many of the Raiders’ points in the fourth were from the foul line as Sara Priest made five free throws.
The Wildcats will face off with Allen East on Thursday on the Wildcats’ home floor.
In JV action, the Raiders were able to squeak by the Wildcats 32-31.
Wayne Trace was topped in scoring by Marla Sinn with six points; Jefferson was led by Taylor VanGrootheest with 10 points.

0 Reader Responses to “Ruble’s 31 leads Raiders by ’Cats”

Complete the form below to leave a response of your own.