Taylor Silta, right, of Superior Central gets to the ball just ahead of Rapid River defender Elizabeth Goodacre in the second quarter Friday at Rapid River. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Dennis Grall)

By DENNIS GRALL

Escanaba Daily Press

RAPID RIVER — Rachel Bintner played about a third of the game Friday night.

And she didn’t attempt a shot until it mattered most.

The Rapid River junior guard found herself in the right spot at the right time and banked a 3-point shot off the glass from the right wing with 1:19 to play, lifting the Rockets to a 34-33 victory over Superior Central.

“I just wanted to win. We had nothing to lose,” Bintner said after the Skyline Central Conference girls basketball game. “I just threw it up there and it went in. I felt it was going to go in.

“It was now or never. It is the greatest feeling.”

Last Friday at Eben, Superior Central beat the Rockets 40-30 and Bintner had a career-best 11 points.

Rapid River coach Jen King said if Bintner or anyone else “gets open, they can take the 3. She had three 3s last week.”

Superior Central coach Greg Trowbridge said he put the Cougars into a zone defense “so we would not get burned (inside) and then they hit a 3 instead. It went off the board. It is one of those deals there is not much you can do about that.”

Erica Rubick then came up with a critical defensive play to preserve that slim advantage, blocking a shot inside by Emma Rondeau with 32 seconds left. The Rockets dribbled down the clock until getting fouled with 3.2 seconds left, then missed the front end of the one-and-one free throw situation.

“We had the ball where we wanted it at the right time,” Trowbridge said. “She had a nice block.”

King said the Rockets figured Rondeau might see the ball in the waning seconds.

“I tried to get them to front Emma and have help come from the back side. She is a good post player,” he said.

The Cougars, scoreless for the first 3 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, had just scored six straight points to take a 33-31 lead. Taylor Silta had four points in that span. Rapid River had gone ahead 31-26 by getting five straight points to open the final period.

The game was tight all the way, with both teams struggling to score. The Cougars (5-3, 3-3) hit 12 of 54 field goals while Rapid River (2-4, 2-3) hit 15 of 47. RR, which trailed 16-15 at halftime, was 1 of 3 beyond the arc.

“We’ve been having a hard time scoring,” King said. “I told the girls if we shoot 30 percent or better we will take the game.”

Trowbridge was pleased with his team’s defense, noting “it had to be working. We held them to 15 points in the first half.”

But the offense struggled against the Rockets’ 2-3 zone and then man-to-man.

“We couldn’t get out of first gear,” Trowbridge said. “We were sluggish making our cuts. This was not one of our better nights.”

Rondeau had 10 points for the Cougars, while Elizabeth Goodacre, who did much of the ball handling, also had 10 points for RR.

The Rockets won the JV game 58-14. Superior Central visits North Central Friday.