One streak ends, a new one begins

By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

How important is it to go undefeated?

Some people would argue that carrying an unblemished record adds more and more stress as a streak climbs.

Others would argue that a loss along the journey isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if the team learns a valuable lesson.

So, how did Lake Region Coach Paul True feel after his girls’ basketball team lost for the first time last Thursday, a 44-37 road defeat against York? The win streak ended at 13.

“As a coach, you never look at a loss as a good thing. However, the important thing to take away is a lesson learned and what you can do better,” he said.

Like most teams, York tried to clog the lane to stop the Lakers’ potent inside attack. While the Wildcats did a good job contesting passes to LR center Tiana Carter, who scored 22 points in the first meeting but connected for just 6 points in the rematch, Coach True felt his team simply did not shoot well from any spot on the floor.

“Tiana took one less shot than she normally does. It was simply one of those games that we had decent looks, but the shots didn’t fall (LR shot 26% from the floor),” Coach True said. “Because we weren’t making shots, our kids didn’t get into our defensive pressure.”

The Lakers also hurt themselves at the foul line. The Lakers went 5-for-17, including missing four times on the front end of 1-and-1 situations.

Despite the poor shooting, York (11-3) led just 16-9 at the half. LR rallied in the fourth quarter as Abby Craffey knocked down a 3-pointer (she was the game’s high scorer with 16 points, including four 3-pointers) to trim the deficit to six with 2:31 left. But, York held on down the stretch.

“When teams pay more attention to our inside game, we need to remain patient and not settle for the first shot chance we might have,” Coach True said. “If we move the ball, either someone will get open inside or we’ll have a chance to penetrate the lane. That’s the lesson we hopefully learned.”

For the Lakers, Kelsey Winslow had 8 points, Sydney Hancock 4 and Sarah Hancock added 3 points.

“We’ve been in a position to lose a couple of times this season, but were able to escape,” Coach True added. “At York, it wasn’t one of those times.”

New streak begins

A championship-caliber team bounces back quickly from a loss.

After a “very good” practice on Monday, the Lakers had some jump in their step Tuesday night as they rushed out to a 31-13 halftime lead against Falmouth, and sank the Yachtsmen 56-34 behind Kelsey Winslow’s 15 points and 8 rebounds.

The Lakers (14-1) were taken to overtime by Falmouth (8-7) in the first meeting, but this time around, the game was dominated by the blue and gold.

Point guard Sydney Hancock filled up the stat sheet, scoring 11 points to go along with 4 steals and 3 assists. Allison Clark rediscovered her shooting stroke, bouncing back from a scoreless night at York to hit three 3-pointers. Tiana-Jo Carter chipped in 6 points and 19 rebounds. Other LR scorers were: Rachel Wandishin 7, Abby Craffey 2, Savannah DeVoe 2, Sarah Hancock 2 and Jordan Turner had 2 points.

The victory kept the Lakers on top of Class B West with 102.0062 tourney points, ahead of Spruce Mountain (14-1, TI 96.8519), York (12-3, TI 96.2963) and Leavitt (13-2, TI 83.7346).

Up next is another big road test when the Lakers travel to meet fifth ranked Greely (12-3) this Friday.