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Not this time: Lakeview girls knock off Geneva
By Greg gulas
ANDOVER
The Lakeview Bulldogs have been eliminated from postseason play the last three seasons by the Geneva Eagles.
They even lost their season opener this year to those same pesky Eagles.
Someone, however, forgot to tell the Bulldogs that they were the No. 4 seed in this year’s Division II district tournament at Pymatuning Valley and their arch-nemesis, the tourney’s top seed, was in fact ranked as high as No. 4 in the state poll.
Alli Pavlik had a game-high 20 points while Lizzy Konitsney added eight points and 11 rebounds as Lakeview defeated Geneva, 46-38, on Thursday night to advance to the Saturday’s district final.
The Bulldogs (19-5) will take on Chagrin Falls, which beat Mentor Lake Catholic, 45-42, in overtime in Thursday night’s other semifinal.
“This was the first time all season that I really motivated myself,” Pavlik said. “The key was that we played a complete game at both ends of the court and gave it our all for 32 minutes. We knew that we could win if we just played our game. It’s been 14 years since we last played for a district title, so this is really a great feeling right now.”
The Eagles (21-3) raced to an early 8-4 advantage behind Natalie Thomas’ six first quarter points.
But a 14-1 run by Lakeview — keyed by nine points from Pavlik — gave the Bulldogs a 16-9 advantage at 4:43 of the second frame.
As it turned out, it was a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way as they settled for a 19-16 halftime lead.
“The girls bought into what we preached all week and all five players on the court executed perfectly for four quarters,” Lakeview coach Adam Lewis said. “Alli makes it tough for a team to press us while Lizzy had a big fourth quarter with eight points and some very big rebounds.”
Both teams could manage just six points after intermission with Lakeview holding a 25-22 lead heading to the final quarter.
Four points each by Calli Schmitt and Konitsney ignited a 10-3 Bulldogs’ run to start the quarter as Lakeview increased its lead to 35-25 with 4:04 remaining.
Geneva’s Becky Depp then rippled the nets for 12 of her 20 points to help the Eagles pull to within 44-38, but Geneva got no closer.
“I guess I was just saving my best for last,” Konitsney said. “As a senior, I didn’t want my season to end and if we play like we did tonight in Saturday’s championship game, then we will be all right.”
Lakeview won for the seventh straight time and improved to 11-3 in 14 road games.
“This was not our type of shooting, ballhandling and defensive effort and we just picked the wrong night for that to happen. Lakeview hustled and played hard and they were the better team tonight,” Eagles coach Nancy Barbo said.
Geneva was 12 of 50 from the field, including 3 of 19 from 3-point range.