The Westwood Rocket and Lady Rocket basketball teams wrapped up a week of summer workouts on Friday at a team camp at Eagleville. The Rockets squared off in 3 games against larger schools going 2 and 1. The Lady Rockets also tangled with 3 larger school and finished the day with a record of 1 and 2.
The Rockets opened the day with a split against former conference foes Cascade and Community in the morning session. Westwood lost to Cascade 37 to 25 before beating Community 48 to 38. After a short break, Westwood stunned the always talented Eagles of Harris 35 to 25.
Coach Will Pannell got strong offensive performances from Braden Dixon, Izick Sierra and Jayden Carter. “They did a great job leading the offense, were aggressive on defense and did a good job communicating and leading the team” said Pannell. “We need to continue to focus on rebounding in order to be successful. We can use our physicality and athletic ability to rebound but we are not going to be the kind of team that can just plant ourselves and get rebounds” added Pannell.
The Lady Rockets opened up with a 5 point loss to Central Magnet. Leonor Moreno led the Lady Rockets in scoring with 6 points. The Lady Rockets bounced back to get a 28 to 11 win over old conference rival Community. Moroeno and Kenna Seivers led Westwood in scoring with 6 points each. Remi Benjamin and Allie Sullivan each added 5 points. The Lady Rockets dropped the nightcap to Cascade as Benjamin again led Westwood in scoring with 7 points while Bryleigh Gray added 3 points. She called out Gray for defense and Benjamin for doing a good job on the boards. She also had high praise for Moreno for her strong work in the pos against taller players.
Coach Angela Houck was pleased with the team’s hustle and intensity. “We were aggressive and dove on the floor for loose balls and really rebounded well” said Houck. She went on to say “I like this little team. We are small but fast and we played hard and did a good job of boxing out.” The Lady Rockets will take off for the summer before beginning practice in August when school starts. “We will need to work on basic individual defense and passing and develop better team chemistry(in the fall)” added Houck.
