The Penticton Secondary School Lakers senior girls basketball team are making their mark in early season play.
The Lakers capped off the 2018 portion of their season this week with a pair of home victories, knocking off Rutland Voodoos 61-42 Monday and topping the Mt. Boucherie Bears 89-56 the following night to end up with an total record of eight wins and two losses so far.
Their only defeats were to Vernon in the championship game of the the Vernon tournament last weekend, 55-45, and the other was a 93-42 decision to the number-one ranked and defending provincial champion Owls from Kelowna Secondary School in the first game of the season.
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| Cassie Hannon of the Pen High Lakers goes to the outside on Manreet Grewal of the Rutland Voodoos in senior girls basketball play at Pen High.
Mark Brett/Western News |
“The two league wins this week were really important,” said Lakers coach Chris Terris. “We’ve got Okanagan Mission (Kelowna) right after the (Christmas) break. They’ve had a great start to the year, but we look forward to the challenge.”
In the Rutland game, Kali Loewen led the scoring with 14 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Maria Iannone had 13 points and five assists and Jaden Yamamoto also had 13 points and four rebounds.
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The following night, Loewen shot for 21 points with nine rebounds. Yamamoto had 17 and seven rebounds, Monica Cabrera had 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. Cassie Hannon and Jennifer Hayman each had 11 points.
“Offensively, this may have been our most complete game of the season. The girls started to make the extra pass consistently and we got some easy looks to set the tone,” said Terris. “Tegan was a force down low, catching and finishing with power and determination. She ran the floor really well and got rewarded by getting early position in the low post.”
The loss to Vernon in the tournament was a measure of revenge for the host team that earlier lost a nail biter to the Lakers, 65-64 in the final of the Kelowna Christian School tournament.
“We were up nine at the half against Vernon, but really struggled shooting the ball, making just 12 of 83 shots. It’s tough to win a game against a quality opponent shooting 15 per cent,” said Terris. “That said, we were very pleased with our compete level. The girls made some good leaps with both our offensive and defensive systems.
“Monica, an international student from the Canary Islands, has added a creative ball handler and passer to this group.”
Related: Penticton Lakers junior girls headed to basketball provincials
In the final game, Loewen had 11 points and 11 rebounds and was the Lakers player of the game. Yamamoto had nine points and four rebounds. Hayman was the player of the game in the team’s 78-63 semifinal win over Kelowna Christian with nine points and 12 rebounds.
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| Monica Cabrera has a time out on the bench for the Pen High Lakers in league play this week.
Mark Brett/Western News |
The Lakers topped Sahali 81-45 in the tournament opener. Player of the game Kalli Doell sunk 18 points, had seven rebounds and five steals. In the final game of the Kelowna Christian tournament trailing Vernon by six points with just two minutes to go, the Lakers pulled out all the stops and came away with a 65-64 win and the trophy.
Jennifer Hayman got the ball rolling in the comeback with a hoop and three clutch free throws to bring Pen High to within two. With just four seconds on the clock, Maria Iannone popped a three pointer to put the game on ice.
“The final was a hard-fought battle,” said Lakers Chris Terris who is coaching the team along with Russ Reid. “We certainly struggled to find some flow but we did enough to hang around, and then the girls made some big plays down the stretch.
“Jaden really set the tone by being aggressive offensively. She was in attack mode right from the first game. Kali Loewen really came to play in the final. She dominated stretches of the game.”
Loewen was the player of the game, scoring 22 points and pulling down a dozen rebounds.
In the first game of the tournament Pen High topped Maple Ridge Christian 81-21. Yamamoto (player of the game) and Hayman had 22 and 13 points respectively and 13 rebounds each. Emma Terris had 12 points, six assists and four steals Ianonne had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Game two saw the Lakers pull out a 75-64 victory.
Hayman was the player of the game with 12 points and seven rebounds. Yamamoto had 15 points, six rebounds and six steals. Loewen had 13 points, four rebounds and six steals.
Loewen finished the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Hayman had 11 points, eight rebounds, Breusing had nine rebounds and three assists.
