Lanie Lipps scored 16 points, Carmen Bosse added 14 and Ross pulled away from Conner (Ky.) for a 42-29 victory in Holiday Hoops action at Lakota West.
“We had a team meeting before the bus ride here today,” Rams coach Ben Buehner said. “We needed to try and figure some stuff out. The girls have to continue to be tougher — mentally and physically. We can’t let people bully us. I think the last couple games we lost, we just let people bully us.
“I told them that you’re all here because you love the game of basketball and want to have fun. To have fun in basketball, you have to compete. It’s no fun to play basketball and not want to compete. So, that’s No. 1, and I was proud of them for doing that today.”
Ross went into Sunday’s contest having suffered setbacks in three of its last four games — which included a 53-34 loss at Bellbrook, a 34-32 loss to Harrison and a 37-20 loss to Simon Kenton. The Rams (8-4) started the season 6-1.
“I feel like these last couple of games have been hard for us,” said Bosse, a junior guard. “But this game was kind of like a step forward. We’re just growing and getting better every day.
“Recently, it’s been more of an ‘us’ thing,” Lipps added. “It’s been the mental aspect of the game. Today, we had a talk before the game about what we could do to help us get better.”
Conner led 10-6 after the first quarter and 18-15 at the half. Lipps scored nine of her points in the third to boost Ross, which outscored Conner 27-11 in the final two quarters to pull away.
“We basically had to lock in,” Bosse said. “We kind of just responded and had a really good second half.
“The other team was really aggressive, which really sometimes we can bow down to that. But today, we stepped up, which I’m proud of all of us for.”
Bosse connected on all eight of her free throws, and Caroline Chernock chipped in with nine points for the Rams.
“This helped reinforce to them that they just need to go out there and play,” Buehner said. “I put it back on them. I tell them that I’ll do my part, they just have to do their part. It was great to see them respond today.”
‘Let her rip’
Bosse and Lipps immediately looked at each other and smiled when asked about the Rams’ motto for the season.
“We do say, ‘Let her rip,’” Lipps laughed. “It’s Buehner before every game. He’ll go, ‘Just let her rip.’”
The coach backed that up.
“It’s what we have been doing. I told them, ‘You guys play for you. You guys have all been in the system. You guys know what to do. Just play. Just let it rip,’” Buehner said. “It’s just one of those old things my coaches use to say.”
Up next
Ross has the next week and a half off game competition before traveling to Valley View on Thursday, Dec. 9.
“It’s been tough because we’ve had quick turnarounds in some of these games,” Buehner said. “Now, we have a long time. So now we’re going to get back to a lot of the basics. We have about seven practices to figure out who we are.
“I’m going to play the people who are going to compete. There’s going to be a lot of competition within practice. We will figure out what that means for us.”
About the Author