SANDUSKY – What began as a scary moment for the Ross girls basketball team ended up being the jolt the Lady Giants needed to snap out of a lethargic start Tuesday night.
Jazmin Bulger
Visiting rival Sandusky, Ross saw its senior scoring leader, Jazmin Bulger, go down with an injury early in the third quarter. While the Lady Giants held a double-digit lead at the time, Ross had sputtered on both ends of the floor all night, making silly turnovers and failing to convert on opportunities to pull away from the over-matched Blue Streaks.
Seeing Bulger get hurt however, awoke the Lady Giants. Ross buckled down defensively, allowed just three field goals the rest of game, and received strong efforts from role players seeing increased playing time in Bulger’s absence.
Though it won’t go down as the prettiest of victories, Ross left Sandusky with a 56-43 victory.
“I’ve learned, as a coach, a win is a win,” Ross coach Juan Vela said. “It could go the other way and be a loss and be even uglier. I think the girls did just enough things to come out with a W.”
Ross held a 27-22 lead at halftime despite nine first-half turnovers and allowing numerous second-chance opportunities to Sandusky on the defensive glass.
“I wasn’t too concerned about the score as I was about the effort and the poor decision-making, the way we were turning the ball over, just the way we were playing,” Vela said. “It seemed like we just weren’t focused and into the game. There were glimpses but we were never in rhythm.”
Bulger scored back-to-back baskets early in the third quarter to put Ross ahead 34-24 before suffering a finger injury with 5:02 to play in the period. She remained on the floor in considerable pain for several minutes.
Without their leader, who entered the night averaging 15.4 points per game, the Lady Giants narrowed their focus and went to work.
Brooklyn Baptista
Olivia Baptista
“I thought they played more as a team defensively,” Vela said. “Offensively, we did some things. They (Sandusky) were in a 1-3-1 (zone), and without our leading scorer, that always hurts, but I felt like our girls got together and did some good things.”
Ahlia Simms scored on a nice baseline jumper off an assist from Braelyn Horn for the first points following Bulger’s injury. A few moments later Rachel Gore found Olivia Baptista for a 3-pointer and a 15-point lead, the largest of the game to that point, to cap a 12-0 Ross run.
Sandusky made 5-of-6 free throws before the end of the quarter to trim the Ross lead back to 10 entering the fourth quarter.
Baptista scored the first three buckets of the fourth quarter to put Ross up 46-34 by the midpoint of the quarter. By that time, also, Bulger returned to the game, two fingers on her left hand taped together.
While Bulger missed about a quarter’s worth of action, reserve players such as Gore, Horn, Laura Szymanowski and Bre Nason saw more action and gave the Lady Giants solid minutes of much-needed energy, some in positions they don’t normally play.
“I noticed during the game, ‘That girl hasn’t played in that spot for a while,’” Vela said. “But a lot of those girls are seniors, so I expect them to go in there and play ball and I thought they handled it very well. It didn’t hurt us at all.”
Rachel Gore
Brooklyn Baptista led Ross with a game-high 16 points while Olivia Baptista added 12 points with eight rebounds. Simms scored 11 points while Bulger, despite the time she missed, finished with nine points and nine rebounds. Given she returned to the game, Vela was optimistic she would be available for Ross’ next game, Thursday at Whitmer.
Gore, playing an increased role in Bulger’s absence, scored all seven of her points in the fourth quarter, including going 5-for-6 at the free throw line, and grabbed eight rebounds.
“Rachel played tough defense, which she always does, and she was big on the free throw line,” Vela said. “She is starting to come around and starting to become an offensive threat, which is nice to see, and defensively she played a lot like Braelyn, with a lot of energy.”
Fremont Ross 56, Sandusky 43
ROSS (56)
Bulger 4 0-1 9; O. Baptista 5 0-0 12; Simms 5 1-4 11; B. Baptista 5 3-4 16; Gore 1 5-6 7; Sabiers 0 1-2 1. Totals: 20 10-17 56.
SANDUSKY (43)
Cunningham 10; Esposito 16; Harper 3; Randelman 2; Miller 5; Kelley 1; Lee 6. Totals 12 16-24 43.
3-pointers: Ross, 6 (B. Baptista 3, O. Baptista 2, Bulger 1). Sandusky, 4 (Esposito 2, Lee 2).