Lakers girls on winning streak

BY STAN MADDUX

The girls’ basketball team from La Lumiere School has won four games in a row.

The Lakers defeated Lake Forest, Illinois, at home 7051 Saturday, Feb. 11.

On Feb. 10, La Lumiere jumped out to a big lead and held on to win 63-56 at home against the Capital Home School Academy Program.

La Lumiere, which was praised early in the gamed by head coach Matt Marvin for their execution in moving the ball against CHAP, led 17-3 just before the end of the first quarter.

The Chariots (17-4) from East Lansing, Michigan, cut the lead to six points, though, early in the second quarter.

The Lakers (11-11) regained the momentum on two quick buckets nd then extended the lead to 15 points from scores by Ashlynn Shade and Shena Fleming.

The lead dropped to 11 points until La Lumiere scored the last three buckets during the last 30 seconds of the first half.

Mary McClintock nailed a three-point shot from the baseline and Shade dribbled coast to coast for a lay-up before Fleming sank a long three-point shot at the halftime buzzer.

The lead grew to 19 points early in the third quarter but the Chariots pulled to within nine points with over six minutes left in the game.

Marvin said the comeback attempt happened after he put into the game several players, including three freshmen, who haven’t played much this season to give them some quality time on the court.

“It was a good learning experience for some of our younger girls to grow in the process,” he said.

CHAP didn’t get much closer once all five starters reentered and stayed in for the remainder of the game.

Shade, who made several short turnarounds jump shots with plenty of hang time, led the Lakers with 27 points. Simmons, a 5’7” junior guard, added 11 points.

The Lakers have three games all on the road left in the regular season.

Marvin said the team has improved significantly and is much better than what their record reflects.

What he described as the toughest schedule of any girls’ high school program in the nation has included recent losses at home to South Bend Washington and Fremd High School outside Chicago.

Both of those opponents were ranked No. 1 in their respective states going into the match-ups with La Lumiere, who exchanged leads with both squads until the second half.

He said the players have benefitted from such a challenging schedule in more ways than one.

“They grew and got better not only on the court but also off the court, which is really cool to see,” he said.

Seven of their players are from La Porte, Michigan City, South Bend and Granger.

The rest of the players are from Indianapolis, Noblesville, Vermont and Poland.

A few years ago, the girls’ basketball program began accepting from outside the area student athletes who perform well academically in an effort to someday, perhaps, compete on a national level.

Shade is viewed as easily the best player recruited since the program was upgraded.

“I think we can build on that and continue to grow and have a great program,” he said.