They move on to play Burlington County rival Delran, for the third time this season, Friday night at Kingsway.
"Our press, we've really been working on it recently. We've been tweaking it in practice just to get it perfect," said RV center Lauren Moses, who paced the team with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
"And it really showed in this game. Our press was great. Something just kicked in. We rotated well. We communicated well. We've just been working really great as a team."
With her team's chemistry peaking at the right time, Moses herself is becoming more assertive and successful as the season progresses.
"She's starting to turn it on now," RV coach Anthony Corrado said. "This is about the same time that she started to turn it on last year. So that's a good thing to see. And it's been big for us as a team."
Moses, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, combined with 6-0 sophomore forward Sabrina Jackson and 6-0 freshman forward Kristen Smith to command the paint against Delsea. Jackson and Moses combined for 11 of RV's 19 first-quarter points. The Red Devils ended the period up by 13 points and never looked back.
Corrado has a lot of luxuries with his current roster, but his greatest one might be his ability to bring in Smith off the bench.
"She's definitely good enough to start for us," Corrado said of Smith, who scored 10 points. "But she gives us that toughness and energy off the bench that a lot of teams can't match."
Moses said that her blossoming on-court relationships with Smith and Jackson are helping her game.
"Before games, just the bigs will get together and talk," Moses said. "And we're always going over what our roles are. We all have roles, and we're just getting better and better at executing them."
Senior guard Meeko Hassinger shined for the Crusaders. She played her usual tough defense and netted a game-high 23 points. Delsea managed to keep up with RV for most of the game, but couldn't overcome the early deficit.
"I thought our kids battled today," Delsea coach Rob Briles said. "We talked about how we had to withstand the storm early in order to stay with them, and they got us early.
"They got us to turn the ball over early and they converted. But [RV] is a great basketball team."
RV's ability to force turnovers consistently when it needed took away any chance of a Delsea comeback.
"Delsea is a good team. They played us hard for all four quarters, so I'm glad we came out with the win," said Red Devils guard Brianna Logan, who netted nine points and stood out in her team's smothering defensive performance.
Rancocas Valley 19 12 19 11 – 61
Delsea 6 12 15 11 – 44
RV: Natalya Lee 8, Kristen Smith 10, Lauren Moses 17, Jasmyne Lewis 7, Brianna Logan 9, Sabrina Jackson 7, Rodesha Davis 2, Jordan Woods-DiPace 1.
D: Tori Levari 6, Nicole Carney 5, Brittney Carney 2, Falyn Kirby 4, Meeko Hassinger 23, Casey Schaffer 4.
Contact Chris Melchiorre at rallysports@phillynews.com.
