MEDINA, Ohio -- Rocky River earned a hard-fought 57-44 victory in Monday-night Great Lakes Conference action at Buckeye High School. Senior guard Sophia Murray paced a big second quarter for the Pirates, and a stingy River defense helped close out the team's first road win of the 2021-22 campaign.

Murray had nine of her eventual game-high 19 points in a second stanza that saw the Pirates outscore the Bucks 19-12. Rocky River (2-0, 2-0 GLC) took a 28-20 lead into the second half and was able to control the game at both ends of the floor the rest of the way.

Kelsey Murphy (11 points) and Annika Mocho (10) also reached double figures for the Pirates. Murray and Mocho were the vanguard of a Pirate long-range artillery barrage: Rocky River hit six triples in the contest.

Murray -- a first-team all-GLC performer a year ago as junior -- had two of those buckets from beyond the arc. She went 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe in compiling her 19 points. For good measure, the senior also dished out three assists and garnered as many steals.

Murphy went 5-of-10 from the floor and also grabbed six rebounds. Mocho's line included a 2-of-3 performance from distance, five steals, and a pair of assists. Ava Patti stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, eight boards, and five assists.

For the game, Rocky River shot 39.2% (20-of-51) from the field. The Pirates went 6-of-14 (42.9%) from 3-point-land.

Monday's 13-point margin of victory marked River's smallest against Buckeye in a series that has seen the Pirates go 7-0 since 2007.

Dating back to last season, Rocky River is 11-1 across its last dozen games on the road.



by Skip Snow

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