Lakeview stays atop AAC’s National Division

January 10, 2014 at 12:08a.m.

CORTLAND

Shortly after the Lakeview High girls basketball team defeated Newton Falls, 47-34, in a first-place showdown, Bulldogs senior Alli Pavlik was asked what the Tigers did to give them a rare competitive game.

Lakeview’s career scoring leader didn’t hesitate to credit it the Lakeview-Newton Falls rivalry.

“The atmosphere playing Newton Falls is different than the atmosphere for any other game,” Pavlik said Thursday after scoring 31 points to keep her team undefeated. “[Their] whole town comes out, our fans ...

“Sometimes you fall into what the fans are saying,” said Pavlik, who admitted she heard one Newton Falls fan mockingly screaming “shoot” at her. “It was tempting ...

“It’s crazy — there’s no other word to describe playing them but craziness,” Pavlik said. “For the younger [players], this is new. I think that got to us a little bit. Once we snapped out of it, I think we were OK.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Newton Falls’ Gabrielle Kline scored to slice the Bulldogs’ lead to 33-29. But a free throw by Rachelle Calvin and a 3-pointer by Pavlik allowed Lakeview (12-0, 5-0 All-American Conference National Division) to pull away. “Our gameplan was to try and make them play a little bit ugly, to try and change the style they play,” Newton Falls coach Mark Baker said. “We were trying to give them some looks that they weren’t used to seeing.

“For the most part, I thought [the gameplan] was pretty effective.”

Early on, it certainly worked as neither team was able to mount a consistent offense. After the Bulldogs jumped ahead 7-2, the Tigers (8-4, 4-1) posted a 10-2 run, with Kline scoring seven consecutive points.

“We never got comfortable,” Lakeview coach Adam Lewis said. “We struggled with that because we want to go-go-go all the time.

“I don’t think [the Tigers] ever got comfortable,” Lewis said. “It was a typical Falls-Lakeview rivalry game. Our girls played hard tonight.”

In the second quarter, Pavlik scored nine points to give Lakeview a 22-13 lead. But the Tigers hung tough as Hannah Zelle made two free throws and scored a basket to slice the halftime lead to five.

Brooke Barreca and Zelle then scored the first baskets of the third quarter.

“We had a back-and-forth, close game,” Baker said. “The [final difference] looks a lot more than what it really was.”

The plodding pace favored the Tigers. Sadie Sutton’s basket late in the third quarter cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 28-27.

But then Pavlik took charge, scoring 11 points down the stretch while the Tigers were held to seven.

“At some point, you have to foul,” Baker said. “And they made [their] free throws. I thought our kids played great.”

Pavlik’s points included five 3-pointers.

“She’s so tough to defend,” Baker said. “She’s so smart.”

Calli Schmitt pulled down eight of the Bulldogs’ 29 rebounds while Abby Pavlik made five assists.

Zelle led the Tigers with 14 points and Barreca had six of the Tigers’ 29 rebounds.