The Lakeland women's basketball team played host to the Cuyahoga Triceratops in OCCAC action tonight. The Lakers battled through an early deficit to charge back and take the game by a score of 65-61. With the win, the Lakers improve to 10-8 overall and 7-3 in the OCCAC. The first quarter saw Tri-C jump out to an early 10-3 lead before the Lakers started to battle back. Lauren Perry had a steal and a layup combined with three free throws to get the Lakers started. Trinity Jackson also stepped up with a 3-pointer, a 2-pointer, and a pair of free throws to bring the Lakers within 6 points, trailing 18-12 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter also started off poorly for the Lakers as they committed turnovers and had missed shots early. Lakeland was still working hard, the ball was just not falling their way. Trailing 39-25 with just over 3 minutes to play in the quarter, the effort started to pay off. Layla Von Berndt was fouled and stepped to the line and hit both free throws. After a Laker steal, Nitzy Rios drilled a deep 3-pointer. After a Tri-C miss, Trinity Jackson was fouled and connected on both free throws. The Lakers again turned up the defense forcing another turnover. On the Lakers final possession of the half, Layla Von Berndt grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a put back to narrow the Triceratops lead to 39-34 going into the break.
In the 3rd quarter, the scoring started with Lauren Perry hitting 1-2 free throws. After a Tri-C miss, Perry drove the lane hard before dishing to Von Berndt for a layup. Tri-C missed again on their next possession before Trinity Jackson knotted the score at 39 with 7 minutes to play in the quarter. After a Cuyahoga basket, Perry scored on another layup. After a Tri-C miss, Lauren Perry connected on a deep 3-pointer to give the Lakers the lead at 44-41. On Tri-C's next possession, Monica Devine stole the ball allowing Perry to connect on another three. The Lakers then forced a turnover and Monica Devine scored on a layup after driving the baseline to give the Lakers a 49-44 lead with 2:40 to play in the quarter. After Tri-C scored, Batoul Khaleefah drove the lane and made a great bounce pass to Devine who laid it in. The quarter would end with the Lakers leading 51-49. In the 4th quarter, both teams played hard. Tri-C was able to narrow the gap taking adnantage of a miss and a turnover to tie the score at 57 with 4:12 to play. Batoul Khaleefah would give Lakeland the lead back as she scored on a driving layup. Both teams would miss and turn the ball over before Monica Devine was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound. Devine connected on 1-2 free throws to give the Lakers a 60-57 lead with 1:39 to play. Tri-C would then score before Devine answered on a driving layup to push the back to 3 at 62-59 with 55 seconds to play. Tri-C would quickly score again to make the score 62-61. The Lakers then had a basket waived off as they were called for a charge with 30.4 seconds left. Lakeland again turned up the defense and pressured Cuyahoga into a turnover with 16.7 seconds to play. The Laker's Mya James was then fouled on the inbounds play and hit 1-2 free throws for a 63-61 Laker lead. Lakeland then forced a turnover and Monica Devine finished out the scoring as she grabbed another offensive rebound and hit a layup for the final margin of victory.
The Lakers had a very balanced scoring attack as 7 different players scored. Trinity Jackson led the way with 18 points while Lauren Perry finishd her evening with 11 points. Monica Devine recorded 9 points for the Lakers while both Mya James and Batoul Khaleefah finished with 8 points. Layla Von Berndt added 6 points in the Lakers win.
Player's Perspective: Monica Devine: "It was a really good game. We knew we needed this game in order to have a chance to make it to the postseason. We never gave up. When we had two people foul out, they really gave us a lot of bench support - we had great team support overall and never gave up."
Gardy's Gab: "We showed a lot of heart tonight...we were really mentally tough after being down in this one...I was pleased with our entire team effort...just really pleased with the way we battled. Tri-C is a good team - well coached. Just a real good basketball game."
Next Up: The women's basketball team will play host to the Niagara County Community College Thunderwolves in non-league action on Friday (2/16). Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm.
