(Atlantic) Atlantic defeated Greene County 65-29 in a Class 3A Regional quarterfinal basketball game at Atlantic on Saturday.
Haley Rasmussen led the Trojans with 28-points, Jada Jensen 13, and Lauren Nicholas finished with eight. Brianna Habben led the Rams with 14-points, and Brianna Osterson scored nine.
The majority of Atlantic’s points came off their full-court 1-2-2 zone press. The Trojans jumped out to a 16-7 first-quarter lead. Rasmussen scored 20 of her 28-points in the first half. Nicholas scored all eight of her points in the second quarter, and the Trojans built a 37-14 cushion at the break. Atlantic held the Rams to single digits in all four quarters, and the majority of the second half was played under the running clock.
“I thought we did a good job defending early in the game, we got a little sloppy at times, but we did pick it back up,” said Atlantic Head Coach. “We did a much better job of scoring in the paint, and once we attacked their 2-3 zone good things started to happen.”
Haley Rasmussen was honored after the game for breaking the all-time career scoring record with 1,242 points to date. Vargason says Rasmussen broke the record against Harlan last Tuesday night.
“That’s incredible, “said Vargason. “She set the single-season scoring record the week prior at Denison. We kept it a secret because she doesn’t want to know that. We wanted to recognize her tonight because this is the last game for her playing in this gym.”
Besides Rasmussen, Jensen, and Nicholas, Taylor McCreedy scored 6 points, Tessa Grooms 5, Nellie Grooms 3, and Maddie Huddleson chipped in two.
“Other people have to get in on the scoring,” said Vargason. “We know who we’re playing next, and everyone needs to get going. We can’t go to Cherokee and knock them off with three players. If we don’t have six-or-seven players ready to play, they’ll take it to us.”
Atlantic travels to Cherokee for a Regional semifinal on Wednesday night. The tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. We will have the broadcast on 95-7 FM. The Pre-game starts at 6:30 p.m.
