Lady Rockets 12U team
opens 2011 with a win
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ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Rockaway Township Lady Rockets 12U travel basketball team opened the new year on a winning note with a 25-9 victory over West Essex in a Passaic Valley Basketball League (PVBL) game played at Copeland Middle School here on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011.
The Lady Rockets jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the first period and were never headed as they improved their overall record to 5-6 and their PVBL record to 2-5.
Megan Gaeb scored six points to lead a balanced scoring attack and Briana Dutko was right behind Gaeb with five points.
Nyanda Callinjder finished with four points; Krista Mitarotonda scored three; Samantha Matthew, Emely Benguero and Lexie Grubel each scored two points; and Rachel Sweetser's free throw completed the scoring for the Lady Rockets.
Callinder finished the game with a game-high 11 rebounds.
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Lady Rockets finish second in holiday tourney
ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Rockaway Township Lady Rockets 12U travel basketball team ran into a defensive buzzsaw named Branchburg Basketball Association in the championship game of the 12th annual Readington Holiday Basketball Tournament and lost an 18-8 decision to finish a 3-1 weekend at the competition held at Readington.
The tournament, held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, Dec. 28-29-32, 2010, was sponsored by the Readington Recreation Department and featured more than 100 boys and girls teams competing in 20 different age groups.
The Lady Rockets, which had averaged 31 points a game in three tourney victories to reach the 12U girls championship game, ran into Branchburg and its very tough defense in the final.
Branchburg took a 6-2 first-period lead but the Lady Rockets - also displaying solid defense - cut the lead to two points at 8-6 at the half before Branchburg outscored Rockaway Township 10-2 in the second half to claim the title.
Krista Mitarotonda scored four points to lead the Lady Rockets while Briana Dutko and Catherine Rewick each added two points to round out the team scoring. Megan Gaeb finished with seven rebounds and Nyanda Callinder had six.
At the end of the tournament, Rachel Sweetser was named the team MVP and Callinder was awarded the "Hustle Award" for the championship game.
Rockaway Township reached the title game with a 36-23 semifinal victory over the Bridgewater Swish on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010.
The Lady Rockets trailed 8-4 after the first period but rallied with a 10-5 run in the second quarter to take a 14-13 lead at the half. A 12-1 outburst in the third period gave Rockaway Township a commanding 26-14 lead before the Lady Rockets put away the game by outscoring Bridgewater 10-9 in the final quarter of play.
Briana Dutko led the Lady Rockets with a 16-point performance - the team's highest one-game point production of the tournament. Gaeb finished with six points; Samantha Matthews had four points; and Rebecca Fair, Kate Struble, Emely Benguero, Callinder, Sweetser each finished with two points.
The Lady Rockets opened the tournament with two victories on Tuesday, Dec. 28, beating Chatham, 20-8, in the tourney opener and then coming back to beat Delaware Valley, 31-5, in the second game of the day.
Against Chatham, Callinder had a team-high seven points; Dutko added four; Gaeb had three points; and Matthews, Fair and Mitarotonda each had two to complete the scoring for the Lady Rockets.
In the win over Delaware Valley, Dutko led the Lady Rockets with seven points; Matthews had six; Callinder finished with five; Mitarotonda had four points; Gaeb scored three points; and Catherine Rewick, Fair and Sweetser each finished with two points.
