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BULLDOG BATTLE
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Poland’s Maura Bobby (30) drives to the hoop between Lakeview defenders Jamie Sentner (34) and Calli Schmitt (10) during an All-American Conference basketball game Monday in Poland. Lakeview rallied to defeat Poland 48-43 in overtime.
Lakeview squeezes out 10th win in OT
Poland
In the first half of Lakeview’s game at Poland, the visiting Bulldogs just had a case of the Mondays.
Poland built an early lead and Lakeview turned the ball over eight times in the first three minutes.
That’s not the type of game the top team in the All-American Conference National Division has been used to.
“We’re really a first-half team,” said sophomore guard Allie Pavlik. “We usually come out real hot and we’re normally on the ball.”
Instead they got a hot start to the second half which was exactly what was needed to beat Poland, 48-43. It was coach Adam Lewis’ first win against the “other” Bulldogs in his three years at the helm.
“It was definitely one of the most stressful games I’ve been a part of,” Lewis said. “The girls never gave up, we made the right adjustments and we got a well-deserved win against a great team.”
Coming out of halftime, Lakeview scored the first 14 points of the third quarter. Pavlik netted 12 of her game-high 22 then, too. Also, it didn’t miss a shot until the 1:46 mark of the quarter. Conversely, Poland couldn’t score its first point, a Rachael Robertson free throw, until there was 2:25 remaining in the third.
“They switched some defenses on us and it definitely caught us off guard, as far as getting into the right spots,” Poland coach Nick Blanch said. “We knew it was coming, but when it actually did, we had some trouble getting where we needed to be.”
Both teams used a full-court press, but it was Lakeview’s “trap and stall” defense that disrupted Poland’s offense the most. The home team scored just five points in the third quarter.
Poland started to rally early in the fourth and regained the lead at the 6:27 mark with a field goal from freshman Theodora Constantine. Lakeview scored on its next possession and was on top until there was two minutes, 10 seconds left in regulation when Abbie Frank drained a deep two-pointer.
That tied it at 39.
Neither team would score, forcing overtime, but Poland had a chance to put it away when Abby Brenoel went to the foul line with 11 seconds left. She missed, Lakeview grabbed the rebound but couldn’t muster a good shot before the buzzer.
Pavlik knew the four-minute overtime would end up in her team’s favor because they had the most important thing going for them.
“Concentration,” she said. “Concentration is one of the biggest things for this team and we had that at the end of the game. If we didn’t have it — there’s no way we would have won.”
Calli Schmitt grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a put back to set the tone early in the extra period. Lakeview (10-3, 8-1 AAC) held Poland without a field goal for the duration and sunk 7-of-8 free throws to seal it.
Schmitt, wearing a protective face mask, was playing in her first game since fracturing her nose on January 2.
“It makes her look tough,” Schmitt said of the face mask.
“It was difficult because I couldn’t really see out of it,” Schmitt said.
Nonetheless, she led Lakeview with 11 rebounds and scored nine points off the bench. Ali Gagne and Jamie Sentner each grabbed seven rebounds.
Maura Bobby led Poland (10-4, 6-3 AAC) with 17 points, five steals and three assists.