Lakeview pressures up win
Led by strong defense, the Bulldogs handed Brookfield its first loss, 59-46.
By DOUG CHAPIN
Vindicator Correspondent
CORTLAND -- When both coaches mention intensity in the first sentence of their postgame analysis, you know it played a big part in the game. Such was the case Monday evening as Lakeview handed Brookfield its first loss of the season, 59-46, in an early Trumbull Athletic Conference girls basketball showdown.
"We wanted to play with a lot of intensity and pressure the basketball," said Lakeview coach Courtney Collins, whose team improved to 5-2, 3-0. "We came out ready to play and got some easy baskets right from the get-go."
Added Brookfield coach Shawn Hammond, "We didn't match their intensity. We knew they are good and we've seen them before, but in the first half we just didn't play with enough intensity,
"We had some good spurts here and there, but we had a big hole to climb out of."
Tenacious defense
Lakeview used a trapping half-court press and tenacious zone defense to harass the Brookfield guards, while senior post players Lauren McCumber and Lindsay Whetzel did a good job inside making the Warriors' 6-foot-1 sophomore Morgan Bonekovic work for her 17 points.
"It depends on the opponent, but for the most part we want to run and pressure the ball," Collins said.
The Bulldogs forced 10 Brookfield turnovers and came up with 12 steals. On the other hand, Lakeview committed 11 turnovers and Brookfield had 11 steals.
"We knew they wanted to push the ball and we were ready for it but we gave up too many easy baskets," Hammond said.
"We had some opportunities of our own attacking their zone and pushing the ball up but we missed some layups early and that kind of took the air out of us."
Unselfish play
Lakeview scored off the opening tip on a well-run play resulting in a pass from Chelsea Butler to Alynn Martin. Though Butler scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs, that play epitomized the Bulldogs' unselfish play. They recorded assists on 11 of their 22 baskets.
"Most of the time we've had good balance in scoring," Collins said. "We might have one girl or another with a big night as high scorer but there usually are several others scoring in a range from six to 12 points.
"We've been pretty unselfish so far."
Lakeview opened a 10-2 lead and settled for a 10-6 first-quarter lead.
Brookfield closed to 10-8, then suddenly it was 17-8 two minutes later.
Lakeview continued to pull away and led 24-10 before Brookfield closed to within 26-17 at halftime. A Warrior basket to start the third quarter made it 26-19, but that was as close as the Warriors (6-1, 2-1) would get.
Started to pull away
Lakeview gradually pulled away to a 47-29 advantage after three quarters and held its largest lead, 48-29, a minute into the fourth quarter. The Warriors gamely fought back but could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Backing up Butler's 20-point performance for Lakeview were Jen Baker with nine points and Whetzel, Martin and Joanna Novotny with eight each. Lakeview held a 26-18 rebound edge as Martin and McCumber grabbed seven each and Butler added five. Baker dished out four assists from her point guard spot and converted both ends of two consecutive one-and-one free throw situations down the stretch.
Leading the Warriors
Besides her 17 points, Bonekovic grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots for Brookfield. Kelly Jones added nine points, seven steals and three assists, while Andrea Gladis had six points and six rebounds and Kari Haywood had four assists and three steals.
Rachel Gentile tossed in eight first-half points off the bench to help keep Brookfield close.