Simmons’ debut at Larkin a winning one
The Larkin girls basketball team was given a choice Friday night after the Royals fell behind host Burlington Central by 12 points in the third quarter.
New Larkin coach Tissanie Simmons, directing her alma mater for the first time, didn’t mince words. she told her players during a timeout to either start using their athleticism to outrun bigger Burlington Central or plan on running extra laps at 8 a.m.
The Royals wisely chose the former, and in the process revealed a Central weakness as Larkin rallied for a 56-54 victory in its season opener at the Central Thankgsving Tournament. Burlington Central fell to 1-1.
“I just kept on loving on them, making sure that they know I’m here, that I believe in them, that they could do it,” Simmons said after her first victory as a high school coach. “They needed to put out a little more energy and excitement because they were just kind of looking tired. I threatened them with some sprints, and there you go.”
More sprints would only accentuate what must already be considered team strengths: speed and endurance.
“We condition a lot because we’re definitely going to be a transition team,” Simmons said.
The Rockets weren’t quite prepared for the run-and-gun style the Royals employed throughout their comeback, a rally fueled by four different Royals who reached double-digits in scoring: seniors Maggie Hofmann (13 points), Abigail Alvarez (12 points, 16 rebounds) and Jill Casebeer (12 points, 10 rebounds) and sophomore Victoria Patterson (10 points, 9 rebounds).
Burlington Central, which was missing key contributors like senior guard Catherine Kaynish and freshman forward Alison Colby, took the lead late in the second quarter when senior guard Jessica Laird got the shooter’s bounce on one of the four 3-pointers she sank on the way to a career-high 24-point performance.
The Rockets then outscored Larkin 12-2 to open the second half, powered by 8 points from Laird and buckets from senior Sarah Nelson (5 points) and junior Camille Dela Cruz (4).
Back came the Royals. Ignited by a three-point play from senior Allison Driskill, Larkin surged to a 19-6 run, which included 3-pointers from Casebeer and Hofmann. Most of the damage was done on the run.
“They couldn’t keep up in transition, so we had to run ‘em,” Alvarez said.
“I was not expecting that at all,” Laird said of Larkin’s running game. “We came out with three guards, two posts and we had to switch to four guards and one post player because we were not expecting their speed.”
The Rockets didn’t go quietly. After falling behind by 5 points late, they trimmed the deficit to 55-54 with 8.5 seconds to play, courtesy of a long press-break pass and drive by senior Brenda Thasavong, who scored 13 points and snared 15 boards despite playing with a facemask over a broken nose suffered in Tuesday’s season opener.
Hofman split 2 free throws at the other end for the final margin of victory, and Alvarez stole the long inbounds pass with 4.3 seconds left and passed to a teammate as time ran out.
It was a confidence-building victory for the Royals, who finished 4-23 a season ago but return their top six players.
“I’m so proud of our girls,” Simmons said. “I told them there are a lot of people who don’t believe in you, but I do. With that, go out there and play with heart and give it all you’ve got. We have what it takes to rattle a lot of people this year. I’m excited.”