Lake girls down Genoa, clinch 3rd straight outright SLL title (2-17-11)

GENOA — Lake’s girls got back to what they know best on Thursday.
And that, simply put, is winning. PHOTO GALLERY
The Flyers
shook off their first regular-season loss in three years, playing a near flawless second half to beat
rival Genoa, 52-38, in front of a packed gym at Genoa High School.
The win clinched Lake’s third consecutive outright Suburban Lakes League championship, the third straight
season the Flyers have finished undefeated in the SLL.
“I think this year means more than any other year,” Lake coach Denny Meyer said. “We had some
upperclassmen decide they didn’t want to be part of our program anymore. It took us down to pretty much
five or six varsity players that just believed in each other, believed in the coaches.
“We didn’t think there were too many people who thought we could do it this year when they heard we were
down to six players. But again, they believed in each other the whole time.”
With Genoa employing a triangle-and-two defense designed to take away Lake leading scorer Kaysie
Brittenham, the Flyers got big production from junior Hannah Cox and company.
Cox made six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points for Lake, while Carly Huston added 11
points and three steals, and Hunter Johnson chipped in with seven points and five rebounds.
Although Brittenham still finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, it was Lake’s ability to get
production from other players and play solid defense that keyed the victory.
“We had Hannah Cox stepping up. We had Carly (Huston) making some big shots when we needed them in the
first half. Hunter Johnson was working hard guarding (Genoa leading scorer Alyssa Meis), getting some
big rebounds,” Meyer said.
“We talked about just playing basketball. There were no set plays anywhere,” he added. “Against a
triangle-and-two you just can’t practice against it. You don’t know how they’re going to run it.”
The first half was tightly defended by both teams, with Lake committing 10 turnovers and Genoa nine. The
Comets led 24-23 at halftime as Meis scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the first half.
Lake’s man-to-man defense then clamped down on Genoa in the second half, as the Flyers held the Comets to
14 points after halftime while Cox herself scored 14 points in the second half.
“We knew we had to come in focused and ready because (Genoa) was going to come out tough,” Cox said.
“After our loss (to Clyde) on Monday we wanted to redeem ourselves … It feels really good because this
was the last year of the SLL and the trophy is ours.”
Perhaps no part of the game was bigger than a span of 15 seconds in the fourth quarter.
With Lake leading 41-38, Cox hit a triple to push Lake’s lead to six points. She then stole the ball on
the ensuing in-bounds pass and stepped back and drilled another three to put the Flyers up 47-38 with
just over three minutes left to play.
“That’s the kind of the stuff we need,” Meyer said. “Hannah’s defense has been like that all year. I
think she’s the best defensive player in this league. Her shooting the last half of the season has just
really come on. She’s shooting the ball with confidence right now.”
Genoa wouldn’t score the rest of the way as Lake went on an 11-0 run to finish the game.
“It feels great, because a lot of people didn’t think we could do it. We showed everybody wrong,” Huston
said. “It means a lot to us. It’s been harder this year. We’ve been shorthanded, only six of us playing,
and we just kept coming out and working hard.”
Although Lake saw its 61-game regular-season winning streaked snapped Monday with the loss at Clyde
(ranked third in Division II), the Flyers, ranked second in the most recent Division III poll, haven’t
lost an SLL game since the 2007-08 season to Elmwood.
“First of all, we have very, very good players,” Meyer said. “You can have great players, but if they
don’t believe in your coaches you may not win. They’ve come out and they’ve done everything we’ve asked
of them for three years now.”
The Flyers end the regular season at 19-1 overall. Lake has a bye to open the sectional tournament and
plays the winner of Rossford and Northwood at Bowsher High School on Feb. 26.
The Flyers were knocked off in districts after perfect regular seasons the past two years.
“The last two years after our loss there were no practices until the next year,” Meyer said. “I think
that they understand that yes, our first goal was to be league champion, but we want to go further in
the tournament.
“I think the girls understand that and I think they’ll come in focused and ready to go.”
Jessica Feller added 12 points and seven rebounds for Genoa, which finished the regular season 18-2
overall and 10-2 in the SLL, with both losses coming to Lake.
Genoa won the junior varsity game, 39-30. Mallory Lee led Lake with eight points.
LAKE 52, GENOA 38
LAKE
Brittenham, 0-3-2—11; Woodruff, 0-1—1; Johnson, 1-5—7; Cox, 0-6-2—20; Pennington, 0-0—0; Huston, 5-1—11;
Shaffer, 1-0—2. TOTALS: 7-9-11—52.
GENOA
Mock, 0-2—2; Swartzmiller, 2-1—5; Schimming, 0-0—0; Meis, 6-1—13; Johnson, 1-0—2; Feller, 4-4—12; Adams,
2-0—4. TOTALS: 15-8—38.
LAKE
11
12
15
14
—52
GENOA
10
14
6
8
—38
Junior varsity: Genoa, 39-30.