The Lady Tigers’ junior standout erupted for 26 points - with half of those coming in the pivotal third quarter - as Belton collected its second straight District 12-5A girls basketball victory, 58-44 over Killeen Shoemaker on Friday night at Tiger Gym.
Some extra work in the gym paid off for Rosebrock and the Lady Tigers as they ran their record to 12-12 overall and 2-3 in league play. Rosebrock hit a trio of 3-point baskets from her customary spot on the left wing and helped break the game wide open.
“I’ve been spending an extra 30 minutes after practice every day just shooting from the same spot, my hot spot,” she said. “We’ve been working (hard) in practice and we’ve got a new mindset. We put ‘District champs, are you ready?’ on the board. We’re just going to go for it.”
After Belton dropped its first three district games, back-to-back victories over Harker Heights and Shoemaker (6-17, 1-4) were vital to serious consideration of a playoff berth, much less a league title. The Lady Tigers earned a testy win Tuesday at Heights and were convincing in victory Friday.
“We’ve talked and talked about not getting our heads down,” Belton coach Randy Bell said. “When (Shoemaker) got up by five or six (in the first half) we didn’t have that energy (drop) like we had been. We kept plugging away until we made our run.”
That run was a 12-0 spurt in the final three minutes of the first half that took the Lady Tigers from a 22-16 deficit to a 28-22 halftime lead.
In four successive possessions, the Lady Tigers got an inside bucket from Amber Peters, a 15-footer from Rosebrock, a three-point play from Tiffany Dickerson, plus a steal and quick basket by Meghan Braeuer to overturn the Lady Grey Wolves’ advantage.
Rosebrock canned her first 3-pointer before the half to boost the Lady Tigers to a six-point halftime lead.
Rosebrock worked inside to keep the momentum going to start the second half with a pair of buckets and a free throw to complete a streak of 17 consecutive points.
Shoemaker’s Shanesha Gilbert interrupted the string with one free throw before Rosebrock muscled in another basket on the low block and Braeuer connected for a 3 to run Belton’s lead up to 38-23.
“(Shoemaker) didn’t shoot well and we made some 3s,” Bell said. “That was the biggest thing. We have to make those.”
Rosebrock hit two 3-pointers later in the third as the Lady Tigers led 46-32 going into the fourth. Shoemaker couldn’t make up any ground in the last eight minutes.
“We’re trying to get over the growing pains of losing our point guard,” said Shoemaker coach Shauna Showers, who is without injured Jasmine Dill. “We had the shots; they just weren’t falling. Things just didn’t go our way.”
Kiara Rawls paced Shoemaker with 12 points followed by Gilbert with 11.
Kimesha Scott helped the Lady Tigers get out of the gate early with a pair of first-quarter 3s to finish with eight points.
Belton will travel to College Station to meet second-place A&M Consolidated on Tuesday before returning home to meet Bryan on Friday.
