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BOURBON - Triton girls basketball coach Mark Heeter said Thursday night he's noticed something about Rochester, that the Zebras tend to struggle on the road. And then he paused and said, "except when they play here."
The Class 1A No. 1 Trojans, the 2000 state champions, hosted Class 3A No. 10 Rochester Thursday, and the Zebras did anything but struggle on the road.
What Rochester did was come storming out of the gates in the first 2:15 of the first quarter, jumping out to a 14-0 lead en route to a 70-59 win.
"I told the girls to just play relaxed," first-year Rochester coach Tony Stesiak said. "I think it's the first game you could say we were the underdogs. We had a chance to step out of the conference and play in a big game. We had nothing to lose. I told the girls to relax. In no way did I think we were safe with our lead. I know about the tournament run they made last year. You can't rattle that team. I knew they would make a run, that's a credit to all they've been through."
Whether or not Stesiak can see the future is unknown, but Triton did make a run, and with 6:09 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Trojans trailed by just four, 56-52.
But as she was all game, 5-foot-5 senior guard Jill Bair was there for Rochester, this time hitting a three-pointer to halt Triton's run and put the Zebra's up 59-52.
Bair finished with a game-high 25 points, while teammates Kaitlyn Thomas and Courtney Felke added 14 and 10, respectively. Most of Thomas' points came on easy buckets in the paint.
Triton cut the lead to five, 62-57, with 4:02 remaining when sophomore guard Ashli Senff hit 1 of 2 free throws, a category the Trojans struggled in all night long.
Triton made it to the line one time in the fourth quarter, where Senff was 1 of 2. For the game, the Trojans were 8 of 17 at the charity stripe.
"We've always struggled with free throw shooting," Heeter said. "If we had hit all of them we still would have lost, but if we hit a couple more of them, it would have made it a different game. We've got to hit free throws."
The 11-point road win ups Rochester's overall record to 16-1; Triton falls to 12-3, losing its third consecutive game.
Senff led the Trojans in the scoring column with 23 points, while senior center Betsy Salyer added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Amber Feldman and Rachel Speicher chipped in with eight and seven, respectively, for Triton.
Triton has lost its last three games, yes, but those opponents boast a combined record of 40-5. Plymouth and Rochester are top-10 3A teams, while 2A Manchester is 11-4 and took Rochester to the wire.
Triton's game with Rochester was originally on Dec. 21 but was postponed. When Heeter found out he was playing Plymouth, Manchester and Rochester consecutively, he knew he had his work cut out.
"I knew once the game got postponed it was going to be a tough stretch, playing Plymouth, Manchester and then Rochester," Heeter said. "To win one of the games would have been good, two would have been great, and three would have been gravy."
Triton lost those three games by 20 points total. A year ago Triton was 7-6 at one point, losing to Rochester and then winning the rest of the regular season and then the state tournament.
"Rochester is an outstanding team," Heeter said. "When you're 16-1 you're a good team. At 12-3 we're a good team, we'll be tough come tourney time. This is exactly what we did last year. It's not gonna help us to play teams we're gonna paste by 40 points. These games are gonna help us. They've been close games, that's taught us to keep our poise."
Triton has four regular season games left and will return to the court Saturday to host Northern State Conference rival Jimtown.
NO. 10 (3A) ROCHESTER 70
NO. 1 (A) TRITON 59
Rochester (16-1) 24 13 19 14 - 70
Triton (12-3) 10 20 16 13 - 59
Rochester FG FT R S Pts.
T. Bair (G) 2-6 2-4 5 2 6
Felke (G) 4-14 0-0 4 3 10
J. Bair (G) 6-16 10-14 5 3 25
Bowers (C) 1-2 0-1 2 0 2
Thomas (F) 7-11 0-0 9 1 14
Thompson 1-3 0-0 0 0 2
Fornal 2-2 3-4 6 1 7
Whistler 2-4 0-0 5 0 4
Totals 25-58 15-23 36 10 70
Triton FG FT R S Pts.
Senff (G) 8-18 5-8 6 4 23
Speicher (F) 2-8 3-5 4 1 7
Feldman (F) 4-6 0-0 4 0 8
Ganshorn (F) 2-9 0-0 2 1 5
Salyer (C) 8-13 0-3 13 0 16
Kreiter 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Miller 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Westafer 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Totals 24-56 8-17 31 7 59
Three-point goals - Rochester 5-17 (J. Bair 3-9, Felke 2-7, Thomas 0-1), Triton 3-10 (Senff 2-5, Ganshorn 1-4, Feldman 0-1). Turnovers - Rochester 10, Triton 16. Fouls - Rochester 15, Triton 16. Fouled out - none.
JV - Triton 45, Rochester 21
Rochester (5-10) - Andrea Taylor 9, Kari Koontz 4, Aubry Roe 4, Lindsey Dishman 2, Rachael Steinmeyer 2
Triton (11-4) - Crystal Lamaster 12, Ashley Westafer 7, Kelly Feldman 7, Angie Wilcox 6, Ashley Zelt 6, Cassie McIntyre 5, Brittany Riewoldt 2
