| (Photos: Aaron Carpenter/Sentinel-Tribune) |
Dreams can come true.
Just ask Lake junior Hannah Cox.
Cox, who said she had dreamed of making a game-winning shot but never had, came through in the clutch
Friday night. PHOTO
GALLERY
Cox’s 3-pointer from the left corner went through the net with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to lift
Lake past Genoa, 36-33. The battle of state-ranked and undefeated Suburban Lakes League teams was played
before more than 1,400 fans at Owens Community College. Lake was sixth and Genoa was tied for ninth in
Division III state poll.
“I’ve dreamed of it and I finally got my chance,” Cox said.
The Flyers had taken a time out with 2.6 seconds remaining to set up the final play.
Carly Huston in-bounded the ball to Flyer standout Kaysie Brittenham, who was immediately double-teammed
by Genoa.
Brittenham’s quick pass found Cox, who had time to set her feet and then get off the game-winner. Cox
also hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 33 with 3:18 left.
“Kaysie came around and we knew they were going to go guard her so he (Lake head coach Denny Meyer)
wanted me to take the shot in the corner and it just went in,” Cox said.
“I was nervous, but I knew I had to be confident with my shot.”
Lake had missed a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds remaining and Genoa rebounded, but Huston
intercepted a Genoa pass at midcourt, setting the stage for the final play.
Meyer said he didn’t know what play he was going to call when he took the time out.
“As I grabbed the clipboard, I was thinking about what I wanted to run,” Meyer said. “The first thing I
thought was that we had to catch and shoot pretty quick and I knew they were going with Kaysie.
“Hannah just set her feet, took a nice shot with (Emily) Mock running right at her with a hand in her
face and she just buried it.”
Genoa head coach Mike DeStazio said the Comets followed the defensive plan in the final seconds.
“Our idea was to make her (Brittenham) give it to somebody to beat us. And that’s what they did,”
DeStazio said. “I thought with two seconds, she would have enough time to get it to the basket and get a
shot.
“We covered her (Brittenham) pretty well. I can’t say anything about the shot. (Cox) turned around and
put it in.”
Brittenham scored 11 of her team-high 15 points in the opening quarter as the Flyers led 13-4 after eight
minutes.
Led by Alyssa Meis’ eight points, Genoa played a strong second quarter at both ends of the floor and took
a 16-15 lead into the break.
Meis added six of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter and the Comets led 26-24 heading into the
final eight minutes.
“Our defense was a little weak in the second and third quarters, but we stepped it up in the fourth
quarter and that’s what got us the win,” Cox said.
Genoa was up 30-26 before Huston made two free-throws and then hit a basket to tie the game at 30 with
4:34 to play. Huston was effective at the high post, finishing with 10 points.
“At times, we made some poor decisions down the stretch,” DeStazio said. “A lot of shots didn’t fall for
us.”
Genoa was 4-of-23 from the field in the second half.
Genoa regained the lead, 32-30, on Julie Swartzmiller’s hoop and then Swartzmiller split a pair of free
throws to make it 33-30.
Cox then nailed the three to tie the game before hitting the game-winner.
“We don’t quit and I really believe our girls know how to win,” Meyer said. “We keep telling everybody
that other people do have to step up.”
Lake, 11-0 overall and 5-0 in the SLL, was 11-of-27 on 2-pointers (40.7 percent), 3-of-15 on 3-pointers
(20 percent) and 5-of-9 from the free-throw line (55.6 percent). The Flyers have won 51 straight
regular-season games over the last three seasons.
With Brittenham only scoring four points over the final three quarters, the Flyers got production from
Huston, Cox and a 3-pointer from freshman Sumer Woodruff, who scored just 20 seconds after she came into
the game in the third quarter. Genoa used a 2-3 zone effectively in stopping Brittenham, double-teamming
her every time she got the ball.
“Everybody is taking Kaysie away,” Meyer said. “The good thing for us being in a big game like this, it’s
not the first team that has taken her away. So we’ve practiced some things to look for when they take
her away and that really helped us, too.”
“We knew we would bring the best out of her,” DeStazio said about Brittenham. “We were hoping that we
could keep other people from scoring.”
Genoa, 11-1, 4-1, was 11-of-41 on 2-pointers (26.8 percent), 0-of-2 on threes, and 11-of-15 from the
free-throw line (73.3 percent).
Meis was the only Comet in double figures.
“Meis is very good. She is the most athletic player out on the floor by far. She attacked the basket
well. She hit her free throws,” Meyer said.
Genoa won the junior varsity game, 38-34. Haley Plantz scored 11 points for Genoa. Sarah LaPlante scored
13 points for Lake.
LAKE 36, GENOA 33
GENOA
Swartzmiller, 1-1—3; Schimming, 2-0—4; Meis, 5-8—18; Johnson, 0-2—2; Feller, 2-0—4l Mock, 1-0—2; Adams,
0-0—0. TOTALS: 11-11—33.
LAKE
Brittenham, 6-3—15; Johnson, 0-0—0; Cox, 0-2-0—6; Huston, 4-2—10; Shaffer, 1-0—2; Woodruff, 0-1-0—3.
GENOA 4 12 10 7 —33
LAKE 13 2 9 12 —36
Junior varsity: Genoa, 38-34.
