RIPON — In a 9-0 Ripon run to start the second quarter Friday, Sarah Thompson converted one steal in into a transition basket and Reina Sausedo did the same on two steals and Ripon Christian never threatened again in a 58-35 Trans-Valley League win for the Indians at Ripon High.
“I was happy the way we played attacking the bucket and getting some steals and playing better defense then we have in a while,” Ripon coach Rick Inderbitzin said. “The first half we came out and started knocking down some shots which we did not do in our last game. I thought we did a really good job after halftime of sustaining some solid defense and making some good buckets.
“It was a total team effort. Everyone got to play and we mixed up the lineup a bit. It seemed like we were on tonight working some people back into the lineup.”
Sausedo did well directing the offense for the Indians (4-1 TVL, 10-8 overall), scoring 17 points with six rebounds, three steals and three assists.
“I really wanted to make up for being kind of slow the last couple of games,” Sausedo said. “I got more confident with my driving tonight.
“Coach motivated us by telling us to stay with it and we really stepped it up as a team.”
Mariah Strickland had 10 points for Ripon behind a trio of 3-pointers, including one off of the glass at the buzzer in the third quarter on an assist from Rachel Sausedo.
“After the first 3-pointer I just continued to shoot,” Strickland said. “I was confident in my shot.”
The Indians won the battle of the boards 40-32 with 15 of those 40 coming off the offensive glass.
“We are just not doing a good job of blocking out,” Knights coach Ed Mulder said. “They got too many second-chance shots in the first half. They probably got 15-17 points off of second-chance shots and you just can’t give a good team those second shots. We did a better job in the second half but if we want to start winning games we have to a better job early on.”
RC scored just two points in the second quarter.
“Our shooting was terrible tonight,” Mulder said. “We’re not a great shooting team anyway but we need to execute better.”
Morgan Van Elderen scored 12 of her 17 points for Ripon Christian (1-4, 7-11) in the fourth quarter and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.