Girls Basketball: Defensive Effort Advances Lakes to West Central District Tournament

The second half of the Lakes girls basketball season has been rough. And, at times, the team has broken down crying, according to senior point guard JaMesha Holland. Members of the team wanted to know why , she said.

But at the end of the day, Holland and the rest of the squad are putting aside the rumors and focusing on winning. They proved it on Saturday as the Lancers caged the Panthers defensively in a 56-37 South Puget Sound league/Seamount sub-district tournament victory at home in Lakewood.

The effort during the loser-out game secured the Lancers (17-3 overall) a West Central District 3A berth. They play Yelm (13-7) at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Franklin Pierce High School.

Holland scored a team-high 13 points, including back-to-back three-pointers, giving the Lancers a comfortable 39-23 lead with 1 minute, 36 seconds in the third quarter. Bonney Lake never closed the double-digit gap Lakes built at the end of the first half.

"There's been many distractions, many rumors," Holland said about the termination of Guy. "We got tired of it. We all had to pick it up and be leaders on the court. It's us going out there putting in the effort and winning to go somewhere."

Lakes has produced victories since the coaching fallout. They are 8-0 under the new coaching staff. They penetrated the basketball and converted 22 free throws compared to Bonney Lake's 14.

But it was defense, according to new head coach David McEachern, that was the difference in the game.

"They were kind of scrambled (offensively) but the girls are playing for themselves," McEachern said. "Not every game is going to be perfect. As long as the girls are executing and competing and staying together they’re going to be fine."

McEachern did not comment on Guy's firing as a team distraction.

"We're in districts now," he said. "The focus should be on those girls."

Bonney Lake struggled to score throughout the game except for Naomi Pounds, who scored a game-high 17 points. No other Panthers scored in double digits.

Box Score

Bonney Lake     5    9    11    12 — 37

Lakes               12   13   16    15 — 56

Bonney Lake: Jessyka Seger 6, Layla Seger 2, Danielle Downing, Gabriela Ruiz 4, Naomi Pounds 17 and Mekenzie Voellger 7

Lakes: Aubre Mitchell 12, Kaitlyn Soriano 4, Anitaka Knight 7, Tyanna Barton 8, JaMesha Holland 13, Shamirah Lowe 2, Brianna Butler 4, Olivia Crawford 4 and Jada Silverhorn 2.