Eagles score big win over Class 5A Sulphur
Rodrick Anderson
SULPHUR — Just two games into the 2020-2021 season and Class 2A Rosepine has already added a big notch to its belt Tuesday after a 51-43 win over Sulphur, a Class 5A quarterfinalist last season.
“This is a huge win to come here,” Rosepine head coach CT Kiely said. “I only won here once when I was at DeRidder, and that was way back in the day.
“I have always come here and they have shut me down, so I am excited about this one. They were like my nemesis when I was at DeRidder. Coach Helen (Lefevre) always did a great job and you can tell her fingerprints are still on this (program) with the good coaching staff that is here.”
With the Tors (0-1) slowing the pace of the game down, Rosepine (2-0) went inside to take advantage of the absence of Sulphur senior forward Abi Massey.
The Eagles led 5-0 after a pair of buckets in the lane by Addison Fruge and Kelly Norris. Rosepine pushed its lead to10-2 after a 3-pointer by Taylor Farris with 4:56 left in the first quarter.
“They got back and slowed us down in transition,” Kiely said. “We are a team that wants to push the ball.
“We are a bunch of small guards. We want to push the ball and play hard, and they took that away. Then we started a scramble offense where we work short corner to corner and just go from there.”
Sulphur battled back to cut the Eagles lead to 14-12 on a three by Jaylen Coleman with 21 seconds left in the first quarter, but Sulphur struggled offensively at times. The Tors went scoreless for nearly six minutes in the third quarter and went 14 of 25 from the free-throw line.
“We had a lot of young kids out there,” Sulphur head coach Carol Turner said, “Rosepine did some things tonight that our young kids had to adjust to.
“To think on the fly in a fast-paced varsity game, it showed. We were lost at times. But the fact that we were able to stay in it was because our turnovers were not as bad as they have been. We have been harping on that, so tonight was a better showing of that. The problem was we missed too many free throws, and we missed too many layups. (We need) to get our young kids more familiar with how we do things offensively.”
Sulphur had a chance to cut the Eagles’ lead to 40-36 midway through the fourth quarter but turned the ball over on a fastbreak.
Gabby Gunter led Sulphur with a game-high 17 points.
Fruge led Rosepine with 15 points, and Farris finished with 11.
Rodrick Anderson/American Press