The Lakeland women's basketball team played host to the Clark State Eagles today and came away with a gritty 58-54 victory. With the win, the Lakers improved to 19-2 overall and remained perfect at 8-0 in OCCAC play. The Lakers anticipated this to be a challenging game as they had a hard fought win over the Eagles in December. This fact coupled with some Laker injuries put the Lakers in a very difficult position for this game. The game held true to form as it came down to the final 10 seconds to determine a winner. In the first quarter, Lakeland jumped out to an early 11-3 lead as Zion Fussell hit a bucket and a 3-pointer. Clark State battled back though as they took control of the boards and hit a series of jumpers off of Laker misses. With the score 13-12 in favor of Lakeland, Lauren Perry would grab a defensive rebound and drive the length of the court and score a layup to end the quarter with a 15-12 Laker lead. In the second quarter, Lakeland turned up the defensive pressure and had steals on three consecituve possessions. Perry would convert the first one with another layup, Madison Fueger would score a layup off the second steal, and Makayla Gordon would hit a 5' shot on the third steal to give the Lakers a 21-12 lead. The Eagles would try to battle back, but every time they started to cut into the lead, the Lakers would answer. Key plays during the rest of the quarter include an old-fashioned three-point play from Zion Fussell, an 8' jumper from Madison Fueger, and a 3-pointer from Fussell. The second quarter ended with the Lakers leading 34-25.

The third quarter was the first time in this game where the Lakers would overcome adversity. With Lakeland clinging to a 35-34 lead, the Eagles would score a basket and hit a 3-pointer to take the lead at 39-35 wuith under 3 minutes to play in the quarter. The Lakers then got fired up as Madison Fueger scored a layup on a nice feed from Lauren Perry. Perry would then steal the ball on the Eagles next possession and feed Makayla Gordon for a layup and a tie score wiith just over a minute to play. After a Clark miss, Zion Fussell would feed Fueger who again converted on a layup with just over 20 seconds to play in the quarter. The Eagles would then turn the ball over and foul Makayla Gordon while shooting. Gordon calmly sank both free throws to extend the Laker lead to 43-39 after three quarters of play. This set up an epic 4th quarter. The scoring started with Micaha Marbury sinking a 10' jumper to give the Lakers a 45-39 lead. The teams would exchange a made free throw before Makayla Gordon drained an 18' shot on a quick inside out pass from Delaney Sullivan. The Eagles sank another free throw and then Zion Fussell scored a layup on a pass from Alesia Marshall to give the Lakers a 50-44 edge with 5:30 to play. Clark State would then sink a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions with a Laker missed shot in between. After another Laker miss, they would foul the Eagles again and Clark State sank to more free throws to knot the game at 50 with 2:45 to play. Following a Laker turnover, Clark State would score on a layup to take a 52-50 lead. On the Lakers next possession, Fussell would hit an 18' shot to tie the score at 52 with 2:10 to play. After a Clark miss, Madison Fueger would drive the lane and then dish to Fussell to score an open layup and give the Lakers a 54-52 lead with 1:41 to play. Both teams would then miss shots before the Eagles scored a 15' jumper off an inbounds play to tie the score at 54 with 48.9 seconds left in the game. The Lakers would then dribble the ball down and let the clock run before calling timeout with 24.5 seconds left in the game and 9 seconds left on the shot clock. After the Lakers inbounded the ball, they started to drive and the ball was passed to Alesia Marshall just outside the 3-point line in the middle of the court. Marshall took a couple of power dribbles before dishing to Zion Fussell who drained a 3-pointer with pressure on her as the shot clock expired. With the Lakers leading 57-54, Clark State called timeout with 9.8 seconds to play. After the ball was inbounded, the Eagles made a long cross court pass to a shooter in the corner. As she received the ball the Laker defenders were charging her hard and the Eagle player traveled to turn the ball over.  Lakeland then inbounded the ball to Makayla Gordon who was fouled with 1 second to play. Gordon sank the first free throw to seal the victory for the Lakers.

Zion Fussell led the Lakers with 20 points. Makayla Gordon finished her night with 14 points while Madison Fueger scored 13 points for the Lakers. Lauren Perry finished with 9 points in the Laker win.

Gardy's Gab: "Clark played a heck of a game. They came out and really competed like we knew they would. I'm very proud of my team though. They really dug down deep and earned a gritty win. We were down players due to injury to start the game and then lost a couple of more during the game - they just found a way to win. I'm really proud of how hard they played and how they worked through all the adversity in the game - great team win!"

Next Up: The Lakers next game is Saturday (2/11) against Community Christian out of Detroit in Laker Gym. This is a non-league game. The game will start approximately 20 minutes after the men's game and is scheduled for a 3:00 pm tip. Wednesday's (2/8) game against Bryant & Stratton has been cancelled as B&S has ended their season due to low numbers.