The Lakeland women's basketball team traveled to Niagara County Community College today and played the Monroe Community College Tribunes in the Thunderwolves Classic. The Lakers beat the Tribunes by a score of 65-59 to improve their record to 9-1 (2-0). The game got off to a late start as the Lakers had bus troubles on the way to the game. Once there, it took them some time to settle in, and then they took care of business. Monroe had a 10-6 lead with 5:39 to play in the 1st quarter when Gianna Pegoraro made a layup on an assist from Zion Fussell. After a Tribune missed shot, Madison Fueger grabbed an offensive rebound and nailed a put back to knot the score at 10 with 5:05 to play. Another Monroe miss led to a Fussell made jump shot to give the Lakers a lead they would not relinquish. Mya James would score the Lakers next 6 points as she hit consecutive 3-pointers after Tribune turnovers to stake the Lakers lead to 18-10 with 3:04 to play in the quarter. Fussell and Fueger would each add one more basket in the quarter to give the Lakers a commanding 22-10 lead at the end of the quarter as there defensive pressure stymied the Tribunes. The Lakers would continue to carry the play in the second quarter and expanded their lead at the break to 15 points, 35-20.

In the 3rd quarter, the teams would go back and forth on offensive. At times, the Tribunes were able to cut the lead to 10 points while the Lakers also expanded the lead to 16 at one point. In the last minute of the quarter, Monroe took advantage of a couple of Laker turnovers and missed shots to cut the lead to 44-37 after 3 quarters of play. That trend continued early in the 4th quarter as Monroe cut the lead to 44-41 with 7:34 to play in the game. On the next Lakers possession, Zion Fussell hit a jumper to push the lead back to 46-41. After a Monroe turnover, Fussell was fouled and sank 1-2 free throws. Monroe would then miss their next shot and Madison Fueger would score on a layup to push the Laker lead to 49-41 with 6:29 to play in the game. Both teams would hit 1-2 free throws before Mya James stole a ball and fed Delaney Sullivan for a layup and now an 11 point Laker lead at 52-41 with 5:48 to play. From there, the Lakers kept up their strong level of play and coasted to the victory.

Zion Fussell led the Lakers in scoring with 18 points while also adding 7 rebounds. Madison Fueger finished with a double double as she recorded 16 points and 12 boards. Mia James added 15 points for the Lakers as she was 5-12 from the arc. Delaney Sullivan scored 6 points and added 14 rebounds to help key the win. Gianna Pegoraro played a well-rounded game as she finished with 5 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals for Lakeland.

Gardy's Gab: "Defense and ball movement were the keys to the game for us. We defended really well to start the game and played with a lot of energy. We were able to get some easy transition opportunities from our defense to spark that early lead. We got into a little foul trouble and so that slowed us down some; but the team really stepped up  - it was a really nice effort by everyone."

Next Up:  The Lakers will face off against tournament host Niagara County tomorrow at 4:00pm