After the Lady Rockets beat the Stevens Falcons last Tuesday in the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets were looking to come out on top again against a difficult Vista Ridge team (28-5) in the second round of the playoffs.

“Our expectations are to stop their two best players and put a lot of pressure on them,” head Coach Triva Corrales said. “[We have to] play as a team and we’ll come out on top.”

Judson won the tipoff to start the game and were looking to start off fast, but end up with no points in their first two possessions due to the Rangers tough defense. The first quarter was mainly defense from both teams, putting pressure on every player and not getting them to reset.

Vista Ridge managed to score first, but the Rockets scored immediately after with a fast break from guard Kyra White to center Heaven Mbaruk. Due to the Rangers aggressive defense throughout  the first quarter, Judson was down 7-2. Judson took a timeout to make adjustments. After the timeout, Judson scored five unanswered points to end the first quarter 7-6.

The beginning of the second half was all defense once again due to both teams aggressive defensive stand. Slowly, Judson started to get momentum by scoring on their last three offensive plays. Center Desiree Lewis, being a big factor in the second quarter, got rebounds and scored ten straight points, which led to Judson being up by 12 points.

With the Rangers making costly mistakes, they called a timeout with 1:35 left on the clock to make adjustments. Thanks to Lewis’ 17 points in the first half, it helped Judson go into the half with an 11 point lead, 35-24.

With Lewis continuing her dominance towards the game, she added another bucket and extended the lead by 13 points. A shaky start for both teams made them substitute players and change their gameplan. With the Rangers putting pressure on the Rockets, the Rockets still managed to score 16 points and have an 11 point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Judson didn’t hesitate to score with a fast break from guard Olivia Flowers to start the fourth quarter. With an early fast start from Judson, the Rangers were forced to take a timeout. With both teams playing their hardest on both ends of the court, the Rangers drained a three pointer, which gave them the momentum and cut the lead into seven points.

With only 1:46 left in the game, the Rangers cut the lead to two points. With time running out, Lewis made a clutch jumper to make it a four point game. On the defensive side, Mbaruk made back to back clutch blocks to force the Rangers to turn the ball over and call a timeout to adjust in the final minute. White also added a wide open layup to make it a six point game.

Quickly, the Rangers cut back to four points with a jumper from their guard. The Rangers were forced to foul, which led to White making the game sealing point. The Lady Rockets come up on top of a score of 65-70.