By PAUL GOTHAM
EAST ROCHESTER, N.Y. — When the East Rochester girls’ basketball job opened up after last season, ER Athletic Director Jeff Onze made use of his network to bring back an alum.
Early returns show that the effort was worth it.
Zarriah Eldridge led four in double figures, and two-time reigning Class C1 champion East Rochester cruised to a 67-10 victory over North Rose-Wolcott/Sodus in Wayne County action, Wednesday night.
The win was the first under new head coach, Sam Rizzo.
“You can’t pass up a chance to come back home,” the 1993 East Rochester graduate said.
Rizzo is in his first year of this role, but is no stranger to the local coaching ranks. He has led the Brighton and Victor programs along with serving as an assistant at Pittsford Sutherland and Aquinas as well as Roberts Wesleyan College.
Onze and Rizzo both worked together earlier in their careers.
“When I was at Victor, we knew each other,” Rizzo explained. “We would see each other every now and then. When it (the head coaching job) opened up, he gave me a call, and I thought about it.”
Rizzo took over a program from former head coach Mark Florack that had put together a record of 37 wins and 2 losses over the past two seasons.
“We’re not rebuilding a program just trying to not mess it up,” Rizzo said of the reigning regional champs. “Teach some new concepts and hopefully take that next step.”
The Bombers looked the part, Wednesday night scoring the game’s first eight points and grabbing a 20-2 lead after the first quarter of play.
ER forced 15 turnovers over the first eight minutes of play and converted on opportunities at the other end.
“One of the things is we want to have good pressure defense,” Rizzo explained. “We want to run. We want to play good defense. We want to get rebounds.”
Zarriah Eldridge forces the turnover and finds Giovanni Morreale ahead for the layup. Morreale returns the favor with a steal and feed to Eldridge for 2 more. End 1st ER comfortably ahead 20-2. pic.twitter.com/iu0GjniCS9
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2022
Emma Romach started the scoring with a steal and layup, and the junior followed with a drive from the wing for another bucket. Eldridge converted a pair of free throws before Gianna Romach grabbed an offensive rebound and finished at the rim.
Aaliyah Carmichael came off the bench to score on a pair of rebound and putback opportunities to push the lead to double digits. Eldridge’s steal and layup early in the second quarter made it a 20-point game at 24-4.
Aaliyah Carmichael converts the rebound and putback. ER 10-2. pic.twitter.com/FXgEBF5VFf
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2022
“The thing I liked, a couple times when they scored, we ran right back at them and got layups off them. That takes away all the enthusiasm that they had.”
Emma Romach finished with 15 points. Aniyah Eldridge had 11. Lily Funk scored 10 while Carmichael added six points and Gianna Romach five. Giovanni Morreale contributed two points.
Emma Romach steal and layup. pic.twitter.com/sRjorMg7Cy
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2022
“Running lanes, making the extra pass instead of dribbling down the court. We still got work to do, but I thought they did a good job with that today.”
Alydia McIntyre scored five points for NR-W/Sodus (0-1). Gracie Jones had three. Cora Haffner (1) and Cadence Sabansky (1) also scored.
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