Ali Gagne's 21 points trigger Lakeview offense
By Tom Williams
CAMPBELL
Lakeview High junior basketball player Ali Gagne couldn’t find the net in Friday’s season-opening first quarter at Campbell Memorial, but she had four steals and four rebounds.
After being limited to just one basket in the first half, Gagne ignited for 11 points in the third quarter of the Bulldogs’ 70-41 win over the Red Devils. She finished with 21 points in Lakeview’s rout that has the Bulldogs starting off on the right foot.
“She plays a big part of our offense and once she gets a little momentum, it’s hard to stop her,” Lakeview coach Adam Lewis said of Gagne, one of his four returning starters.
With Lakeview ahead 34-22 at halftime, Gagne was on fire in the third quarter, making five baskets and a free throw to help the Bulldogs surge to a 53-28 lead.
“Scoring is always fun, but playing well as a team is all that really matters,” Gagne said.
Gagne, who also plays soccer and runs track, said she doesn’t mind the running those sports require.
“It’s good for conditioning,” said Gagne who also made nine rebounds and six steals. “But it’s tough going right from soccer into basketball.”
Another starter back from last year’s five-win team is junior Abby Dunn, who scored the other eight points in the third quarter.
The other returning starters are senior Alisha Nichols and junior Jamie Sentner, who scored 10 points and added five rebounds.
“Now that we’re the upperclassmen, it’s helped,” said Gagne of the confidence the Bulldogs have.
Three baskets by Becca Monsell and two apiece by Sentner and Shelby Lucas helped the Bulldogs jump out to a 21-12 lead in the first quarter. Lucas finished with 12 points.
Campbell senior Iesha Moses scored seven of her 13 points in the first quarter, but she injured her left leg in the second quarter and missed several minutes.
Moses returned to action in the second half, hitting three free throws and a 3-pointer. She also made nine rebounds.
“She’s difficult to guard,” said Lewis of Moses, one of Campbell’s two key players back from last year’s team that tied Champion for the All-American Conference Blue Tier title.
“At halftime, we tried adjust to her a little bit, not letting her penetrate so much,” Lewis said. “She did a nice job of doing that [before the injury].”
Tiera Graves’ 14 points included eight free throws for the Red Devils. Eight of those points came in the second quarter as the Red Devils scored the last five points of the first half to cut their deficit to 12 points.
After last year’s 5-17 season that included a seven-point loss to Campbell, Lewis said, “I couldn’t have asked for a better start.
“It’s always a little nerve-wracking, the first game, to see where you are going to come out but I’m very happy with the way we played,” Lewis said.