NORTH MANCHESTER – Rochester High School girls basketball coach Tony Stesiak didn’t pull any punches with his team prior to its Three Rivers Conference clash with Manchester Saturday night. “I told them I wanted them to play this game like they wanted to play late next month, which is the sectional tournament,” said Stesiak. “We need to begin to work towards that. “Things didn’t start out that way with much of the credit going to my good friend, Manchester High School coach Mark Underwood, and his team for the way they prepared for this game,” he added. “However, the second half saw our veterans get the message.” The visiting Lady Zebras extended their current win streak to six straight with a 54-35 win over the Lady Squires. After falling behind 14-9 after one quarter and trailing 28-27 at halftime, Rochester put the brakes on the home team’s offense for the final two frames, shutting Manchester out in the third quarter and holding the Lady Squires to seven points and just two field goals in the final eight minutes for a 23-7 second half roll. “I am very hopeful for the remainder of our season after the way we played the first 16 minutes,” Underwood said. “If we can translate that into a full 32 minutes, we will be getting to the point we want to be at. “The second half was just a matter of us not being able to hit any shots and Rochester stepping up their defense,” he added. “They have a good young team that is playing very well right now.” Senior guard Rylee Holland and junior forward Breanne Paulik led the charge for Rochester, which improved to 11-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play. Holland finished with a game-high 17 points, while Paulik added 10. Manchester, dropping to 6-11 overall and 2-6 in the TRC, got 13 points and five rebounds from senior forward Kayla Flack before she fouled out in the final moments of the fourth quarter, and 11 points and four rebounds from junior center Tabby DeWitt. The Lady Squires return to action Tuesday when they host Triton.
