Girls Basketball: Lakeland Defeats Eastchester

Basketball is a game that consists of four quarters, but sometimes the result can be decided after one quarter of play. That was the case in the opening-round contest of the Walter Panas 9th Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament Dec. 16 that pitted Eastchester (1-6) against Lakeland (1-2).

Lakeland was able to jump out to a 16-4 first-quarter lead and build on that lead in the ensuing three quarters. That enabled the Hornets to garner a 50-26 triumph, which earned Lakeland its first win of the year.

"We used the fast break," Lakeland coach Steve Fallo said. "We pushed the ball up the court. The big thing for us is that we didn't turn the ball over a lot."

He said his team did a good job early on in the game.

"We took advantage of the fast break," Fallo said. "We played great defense during the first half. That got us the big lead (25-10) at halftime."

Lakeland's first two scores came from Courtney Stokes and Emily Alicea, who each scored a game-high 14 points. Stokes, then Alicea, each scored on a lay-up off a steal where they went the length of the floor for the score.

Those two baskets from their co-captains put the Hornets up 4-0.

"They were trapping our guards and recently we have been struggling with the trap," Eastchester coach Mary Kate Burke said. "We have a lot of young guards struggling with their confidence with the ball so we have been trying to beat traps and passing through a press. We had trouble in the first quarter with it but we figured it out eventually."

The Eagles coach explained how they figured it out.

"First we did a few subs, of those people that were ready to go in," Burke said. "They passed the ball around and realized that they can't go down the sideline and run into the trap. They have to release the ball before they run into the trap. They always know that if people are guarding them, that there are going to be people that are open. So they picked their heads up, saw the whole court and they were actually able to pass through it."

Lakeland will now play host Walter Panas (2-4) in the championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18.

"If we play defense the way we did, we can be successful," Fallo said. "Every game is tough for us. We struggle offensively. We know that we can play defense. If we can play great defense and get some turnovers and turn them into points, we will be alright."

Eastchester plays Hendrick Hudson (0-6) in the consolation game on the same day at 1 p.m.

"We came out strong with our first two games, then recently there has been a little bit of a decline," Burke said. "We had sickness, we had a lot of injuries. Most of our seniors are actually either sick or hurt right now. The leadership and the experience of the seniors is missing so we are expecting a lot out of young girls that have only played JV. Some are making a very good transition, others still have growth. These are learning experiences, game by game."

POINT TOTALS
Eastchester-Kyra Hassler (8), Danielle Cacciola (7), Gloria Nicholson (6), Kristin Michels (3), Gabrielle Pinto (2)

Lakeland-Emily Alicea (14), Courtney Stokes (14), Sara Oakes (7), Taylor Pompilio (6), Kate Weldon (6), Mackenzie Heslin-Scott (3)