Sophomore Emma Yeager jumps up for the opening tip-off during a Jan. 20, 2023 matchup against Taft. Photo by Luke Servello
Clermont Northeastern has one of the younger rosters in the SBAAC and the Rockets began the season by going just 3-10. Although it was a sloppy 41-39 win over Taft, they will certainly take it as they extend their win streak to three.
Taft came into the season with just one win and during the first quarter they struggled to get into any type of rhythm. The Rockets press overwhelmed them forcing several travels, and bad passes. Clermont Northeastern didn’t convert as many off-turnovers as they may have liked, but they did lead 14-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Taft looked a tad more in sync towards the end of the second quarter and cut the halftime deficit to single digits, trailing 27-18 at the break. Like younger teams often do, the Rockets came out of the break flat, struggling to get back on defense allowing too many open looks. Offensively they shot the ball poorly in the quarter and Taft stormed all the way back to take a 29-27 lead with 2:33 left in the frame. The run frustrated Rockets head coach Joe Ford. “I think we just got lazy on our man side. You know, to control that run., we just got to step up and play the play the hard defense that nobody wants to play against.”
A Jenna Brown layup with 1:55 left in the quarter ended the scoring drought and tied the score up. A stop on defense followed by a Julia Best layup gave the Rockets the 31-29 which they would take into the final frame.
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