LA SALLE – For the second time in four days the La Salle-Peru girls basketball team used the same successful game plan – its height advantage.
In Saturday afternoon’s contest at AJ Sellett Gym against Marquette, which was missing two post players, the Cavaliers, as they did in Wednesday’s victory over Mendota, looked to get to the ball inside to junior forward Brie Ruppert.
As good as she was against the Trojans, Ruppert was even better against the Crusaders.
Ruppert recorded a game-high 24 points – nine in the pivotal fourth quarter – and 18 rebounds to help the Cavaliers close out a 55-41 triumph on a 17-3 run.
“We had the height advantage, so obviously the plan was to try and make the most of it by getting the ball in the lane,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “In the first three quarters, while I felt we were doing a good job of that, Marquette was countering that with 3-pointers. Then finally in the fourth quarter the shots that were going in for them stopped and we were able to keep things going by getting the ball to Brianna down low.
“We are making overall progress, but we are still struggling with understanding matchups and what strengths our opponents have that we have to take away. We did a better job with that in the later stages of the game today.”
L-P (7-8) led 12-11 after one quarter, 27-24 at halftime and the two sides were knotted at 36-all heading to the fourth.
Kelsey Frederick opened the final quarter 20 seconds in for the Cavs with a rebound hoop and Marquette’s Hunter Hopkins countered with a pair of free throws 30 seconds later.
But from there, a layup by Frederick was followed by seven consecutive points by Ruppert on a three-point play, two free throws and a layup off an assist from Elli Sines. A drive by the Crusaders Chloe Larson snapped the streak, but two baskets from Ruppert, as well as hoops from Frederick, Sines and Alexus Hines helped close out the win.
“I felt like I did a good job of being active, my teammates also did a good job of setting picks to give me some open space around the basket and getting me the ball in good situations,” Ruppert said. “The game plan was to get the ball inside as much as possible and if the shot wasn’t there to kick it out for either an open outside shot or a reversal. The key for me is to keep the ball high so the guards coming for a double team can’t knock it away.
“I feel like we starting to get comfortable in what we want to do on offense and defense. Coach Spencer talks about wanting us to be a balanced offensive team, inside and out, but today was definitely a game where we wanted to get the ball inside.”
Frederick finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Sines had 10 points, Hines seven points, and Emma Jereb five points and nine rebounds.
Keely Nelson led Marquette (9-6) with 13 points, with Kaitlyn Davis adding 10 and Hopkins seven.
“We came into the game today without a couple of our post players (Kelsey Cuchra and Kinley Rick), so we knew La Salle-Peru was going to have a big height advantage and it would be a tough matchup for us,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “We tried to mix up our defenses from man to zone with a little bit of extended pressure mixed in. We had some success with all of that, but overall, we were getting killed on the boards and ultimately, we just couldn’t overcome their height advantage.
“I was happy with the looks we had pretty much all game, but for whatever reason the shots that fell in the first three quarters didn’t in the fourth. I feel like some of that was we gassed out a little not having played in over a week or so.”
Marquette is back in action on Monday at Roanoke-Benson in Tri-County Conference game. La Salle-Peru is off until Saturday when it hosts Galesburg.