Category: Sports

The Rams had a busy schedule last week as they played two back-to-back games. On Friday the Rams fell short against the Mitchell Bluejackets 44-48 on January 7. The loss moves the Rams 1-1 in the PLAC Conference. The next night the team turned their game around at Tell City with a win against the Marksmen, 61-52.

Head Coach Dusty Cole reflected on Friday’s game. 

“Tough night on the road. We came out a little bit flat and had too many dry spells on the offensive end. There were multiple times throughout the game that we had chances to stretch a 2-3 point lead to 8-10 and we just never could get it done,” said Cole. “We allowed Mitchell to hang around and they gained more and more confidence as the night went on.  We missed a few shots late and they hit a few shots.”

The three leading scorers for the Rams were junior Isaac Cornett-McBride with 13 points, sophomore Trey Rominger with 11 points, and freshman Fletcher Cole with 8 points.

“We only shot six free throws and we got outrebounded.  These are two areas that we pride ourselves in so it was disappointing to see those numbers,” said Cole. “Isaac hit a few shots late in the game for us, but overall, nobody stood out as having a great game.”

The positive takeaway for Cole was on defense. 

“Defense was solid and we held their two leading scorers to 19 points combined,” said Cole. 

Saturday’s game ended with the Rams adding another tally to the win column. 

“We didn’t play our best game, but we found a way to get the job done,” said Cole. “We have a bunch of winners on this basketball team.  Winners, find a way to win.  Sometimes you have to win UGLY.  But you find a way to win.   Our kids did just that.”

The three leading scorers for the Rams were  freshman Fletcher Cole with 16 points, sophomore Trey Rominger with 15 points, and senior John Moon with 13 points.

“We are still making a lot of mistakes.  We turned the ball over a season high [of] 16 times and shot a very poor percentage from the field,” said Cole.  “On a positive note, we hit our free throws really well late.  We were already down a player with Carson Little being sidelined, but we also had to overcome a lot of foul trouble as well.”

Cole was pleased by the performance of senior Bladen Patton and of his team at the free-throw lane all night.

“Bladen [Patton] was solid tonight.  Went three of four from three-point range, and had five assists and 0 turnovers. Fletcher hit his free throws well (11-12 from the line). Trey had 14 points in the second half. As a team we hit 26 of 31 free throws,” said Cole.

The Rams will not be playing host to the Dubois Jeeps, with the game to be rescheduled at a later date.

The team will travel to Eastern Pekin to play the Musketeers tomorrow at 6 p.m. Ram fans can purchase tickets at the link below.  

Story by Ashleigh Garcia

Click HERE to purchase tickets.

On Saturday January 8, the Lady Rams defeated the Borden Braves 57-13. 

“Playing midday games are sometimes tough to get ready for. So, getting mentally ready to play these games are important,” said Head Coach Donavan Crews. “I thought we came out a little flat to start the game.  Borden was ready to play, and they jumped out on us 4-0 really quick.”

The score did not stay that way for long with the Rams stepping up to add big points. The three leading scorers for the Rams were  junior Jackie Crews with 12 points, senior Kacey McBride with 10 points, and junior Ryleigh Anderson.

“After we settled down and got focused we really started clicking. We went on a 19-0 run to end the quarter and we never looked back.  The girls stayed focused and continued to do what we needed to do,” said Crews. “Once you get up big on teams sometimes it’s hard to stay sharp and not get sloppy.” 

The Rams were able to limit their turnovers against the Braves. 

“We finished the game with only five turnovers which is really good.  That means we weren’t forcing things out there and we continued to take what Borden was giving us out there.  We had another game with balanced scoring which was good to see.”

Crews praised his defence which only gave up 13 points all day long.

“Borden has a couple really nice guards and I thought the girls did a very nice job realizing where they were and defending them the way we had talked about,” said Crews.

The Rams were set to face county rival Springs Valley on Thursday, January 20 but the game had to be postponed due to COVID-19 cases and quarantine requirements. The Rams will now face the Blackhawks on Saturday, January 22. 

Up next, the Lady Rams will play Crawford County at home tomorrow, January 15,  the JV game will start at noon with Varsity to follow.

Story by Ashleigh Garcia

On Tuesday January 4, the Lady Rams defeated the Perry Central Commodores 57-23. The win moved the Rams 2-0 in the PLAC Conference.

“We really want to defend our homecourt,” said Coach Donavan Crews. “With Gracie (Walls) and Amelia (Hess) out, we had a lot of different combinations out there than usual.  It took us a little bit to get going but once we started clicking out there, we were able to get a comfortable lead.”

The three leading scorers for the Rams were junior Jackie Crews with 11 points, sophomore Carley Higgins with 11 points, and senior Kacey McBride with 10 points.

“I thought we played a very controlled game with only 13 turnovers.  The girls were patient on the offensive end and executed really well.  Defensively we played really well.  We only gave up a total of 23 points and only seven points in the second half.  I thought the girls followed the game play really well on the defensive end.” said Crews. “(Perry Central) had some size and truthfully, we were probably out sized at every position.”

Crews remarked that two players were key to the Rams defense.

 “I thought Ryleigh (Anderson) and Ella (Spires) did a really nice job on their big kid inside.  They kept her scoreless for the game which was huge.” said Crews.

Crews hopes to keep up the good work going into today’s game against Borden.

“I think if we can keep playing defense like this and moving the basketball like we did tonight we will be a pretty tough team to beat down the stretch. The goal is to be playing our best at the end of the season and I think we are slowly getting there.”

The Rams will face the Borden Braves tomorrow, Saturday, January 8 at 11 a.m. in the lower gymnasium.

Story by Ashleigh Garcia