Lady Rockettes Retire Bean Pot
By Laurie-Jean B. Gauthier

Once again it was "SRO" as the Whitcomb Lady Hornets and the Rochester Rockettes opened the 2007-08 girls’ basketball season last Saturday night at Whitcomb High School in the annual Stub Stearns Bean Pot Challenge. Rochester pulled off the 40-30 win for their third consecutive victory. Prior to the tip-off, Connie Stearns, widow of Stub Stearns, was presented with a bouquet of red roses by the Lady Hornets.

Rochester won the tip-off, but almost immediately lost possession when the Hornets came up with the ball under the hoops. The Hornets missed first one try and then the second chance. Rochester moved the ball up the court and Caitlin Cutting penetrated the center only to be fouled. Her foul shot was the first point of the game.

Eager to get the scoring going at their end of the court, the Hornets were a bit too hasty, and threw the ball away on their next two possessions. Rochester added two more points off a Miranda Shepard deposit. Whitcomb’s first points came from a Laurel Adams rebound and put-back. Megan Pratt scored for the Rockettes on the very next play.

Molly Taylor scored her first basket of the game right after that and it was back to a one-point lead. Virginia Wortman tied the game 6-6 with two from the foul line. At 1:44, Aldrighetti put Whitcomb ahead for the first time in the game, with a basket. The score at the end of the first was 7-6, Whitcomb.

Wortman finally started the second period scoring with a two-point toss-in shy of the three-minute mark. Cutting hit another free throw for Rochester and Aneta Merksbauerova (Wortman’s foreign exchange sister) subbed in and made her first ever basketball playing debut. What she lacks in knowledge and skill for the game, she more than makes up for with her speed at sticking with her mark.

Midori Cruikshank delivered with 1:45 on the clock for a 10-10 contest. Aldrighetti was called for her third foul 15 seconds later, putting Megan Pratt at the strip. Pratt made the first toss but missed the second. With less than 10 seconds in the half, Alicia Waite put the Rockettes back up by three for a 13-10 half-time score.

The third quarter saw the action going back and forth, with neither team gaining a clear advantage. Sam Mishkit of Rochester finished the quarter in style. First she scored a 3-poiner, then she stole the ball, but was denied when Molly Taylor stopped her progression. Denied at the line, she came right back with another three just before the buzzer, but not before Laurel Adams squeezed in a Hornet hoop. After three, it was Rochester up by six, 27-21.

Cutting scored twice at the start of the fourth to put the Rockettes up by 10 in the first two minutes back. Baskets by Aldrighetti and Taylor followed as the Hornets tried to catch up. Maegan Pratt added two for Rochester to keep a seven-point lead. Aldrighetti scored two, was fouled by Desi Bourassa, and then netted one more point to cut the lead to five. Adams added two, and it was back to a three-point deficit for the Hornets. Aldrighetti fouled out at 2:13. Mishkit scored five more points, and Cutting added two points, while holding the Hornets scoreless for the remainder of the game.

The 40-30 contest gave the Rochester Rockettes their third consecutive Bean Pot victory in three years. With the victory comes the privilege of possession and retirng the Bean Pot trophy for their school’s trophy case.

Rockette Mishkit led all scores with 17 points. Hornet Adams was next with 10 points. Rochester’s Pratt and Whitcomb’s Wortman finished with nine points each and Cutting had eight points.

Whitcomb travels to Williamstown Monday, Dec. 10 and plays the Blue Devils at 7:30 p.m. On Wednesday, Dec. 12, they host the South Royalton Royals at 7 p.m. This is usually a "packed house" game, so get there early if you want a seat.

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