Girls Basketball: JeTaun Rouse powers Marist romp

Updated: November 22, 2011 7:19PM

Some teams play a zone defense out of necessity, trying to cover up for a lack of athleticism.

Marist? Not one of those teams.

Playing a 1-3-1 zone, crashing the boards and playing the passing lanes, the No. 6 RedHawks cruised to a 69-39 win over Rich Central Tuesday at the Marist Thanksgiving Classic.

“Our defense is pretty fun so we like running it,” Marist’s Leah Bolton said. “It gives us a chance to [dictate] what the offense is doing, and teams don’t always know what to do so we can catch them off guard.”

JeTaun Rouse led Marist (3-0) with 25 points, and Bolton added 11 points and 15 rebounds. Brooke Wyderski chipped in eight points off the bench for the RedHawks.

Alex Stanford had nine points for Rich Central (5-1), while Tyron Eubanks-Thornton and Tatianna Newell scored eight apiece.

Forcing 22 turnovers, Marist wasted no time dictating the pace of the game. Rich Central committed eight turnovers in the first quarter as Rouse spearheaded the effort. The junior guard scored 10 points in less than two minutes, including two three-pointers and two fast-break layups, as Marist went up 22-6 after one quarter.

“We have a lot of good shooters and usually knock down shots,” Rich Central coach Bryan Craig said. “We usually look forward to zones.”

Rich Central chipped away at the lead, but Marist used a 7-0 run early in the third quarter to regain momentum.

“We were trying to come out strong,” Bolton said. “We didn’t really care how much we were up by. We wanted to keep that tempo going.”

Rich Central finished 3-for-17 from three-point range and was consistently outrebounded. For Craig, the loss came down to one thing.

“Lost focus,” Craig said. “I’m actually glad we lost now so we can get some of the kinks out. We didn’t work as hard as normal. Marist overall just read the ball well.”

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