Lady Leopards Bolt By Blue Streaks 41-35 to End Postseason Drought – Girls Basketball
#9 Louisville 41, #8 Lake 35
The 9th Seed Louisville Leopards Girls Basketball Team upset the host 8th Seed Lake Blue Streaks 41-35 Saturday Afternoon in the DI Canton Sectional Semifinals at Lake High School. With the victory, Louisville improves to 7-16 on the season and advances to play the top seeded Jackson Polar Bears on Thursday, February 22 at 7:00 PM in the Sectional Finals.
Ellie Jackson scored a team-high 10 points, and matched both Kayla Gibson and Cassidy Kiko with a team leading 5 rebounds, to lead the Lady Leopards. Erin Hahn also scored 9 points and recored 3 steals. Gibson and Rachel Israel rounded out the Louisville top scorers with 7 points each.
The Lady Blue Streaks were led by Sarah Miller who scored a game-high 12 points and recorded 7 rebounds. Mackenzie Hance also had 8 points and pulled down 5 rebounds, Abby Stephens added 5 points and 5 rebounds, and Hannah Sampson finished with a game leading 9 rebounds for Lake.
Points came at a premium early on in the contest. Just like Wednesday in their game against Central, the Leopards defense got off to a great start in holding the Blue Streaks off the scoreboard for the first three minutes. Jackson scored all of Louisville’s points in the opening quarter, but Lake held a 6-5 edge heading into the second.
That score held as neither team could add to their total until the 4:42 mark of the second quarter. Hahn hit a jumper off the right side of the rim that popped up and rattled in to break the stalemate. After a pair of free throws by Hannah Sampson to give the Lady Streaks the lead back, Louisville pulled ahead 12-8 via an old fashioned three-point play by Jackson and a long two-point field goal by Gibson. Lake rallied back and took the lead at 14-13 when Miller grabbed an offensive board and laid it back home with 35 seconds to play before half.
With one final possession, the Leopards patiently looked for the open shot, but the Blue Streaks defense locked in. As the clocked waned down to the final seconds, Maggie Galentine fired a pass over to Morgan Cole on the left wing. Without hesitation, Cole set her feet and fired a three-ball that just managed to sneak by the hands of the closing in Lake defender. The shot hit its mark, the clock ran out, and the joyous Lady Leopards bench celebrated a 16-14 halftime advantage.
Louisville rode this momentum into the third quarter where the pace picked up. The two squads exchanged buckets and the score was knotted at 20-20 midway through the period. Lake took the lead with a three-pointer by Hance, but Louisville snatched the lead back with a 7-0 run.
Sydney Daniel started the run with an offensive rebound and putback to cut the deficit to a single point. On the Leopards next possession, Kiko found some space to drive and created an easy bunny shot to give the Leopards the lead. On the other end, Jackson stepped in front of and stole a Blue Streaks pass near the baseline. That setup a key Louisville possession that ended with Hahn swishing home a three-pointer at the top of the key, several feet beyond the arch. 27-23 Leopards.
Lake managed to cut the deficit to 27-26 before the end of the third. Stephens retrieved an air ball, scored on a reverse layup, and was fouled in the process. She hit the bonus free throw from the line and the slimmest of margins would separate the two teams heading into the fourth.
Louisville scored the first seven points of the final period to take a 34-26 lead with 4:42 to play. Hahn hit from the left of the hoop and forced a steal on the next defensive possession. That resulted in Gibson scoring on a layup while drawing a foul. A few possessions later, Hahn passed to Israel in the right corner and she cashed in a devastating three-pointer to cap off the Lady Leopard run.
Blue Streaks Baskets by Natalie November and Jessica LaBeau cut the Louisville lead to 34-30. But Israel again delivered by scoring in the lane off an in-bound pass with under three minutes to play. Lake managed to get within 36-33, but could not mange to get any closer. In the 1-and-1, Gibson and Israel both capitalized by hitting two free throws each to put the Leopards ahead 40-33 with with 31.8 seconds to go. Louisville cruised from there, put an end to their 7-game tournament skid, and setup a date with top seeded Jackson next Thursday.
With the win, The Leopards have now won 4 out of their past 5 against the Blue Streaks overall. Their only loss in that span was a 40-38 defeat in this year’s season opener at Lake which they were happy to avenge Saturday. Louisville now leads the all-time series over the Blue Streaks 25-18 which includes a 12-10 record in games played at Lake. The Leopards are now 1-2 against the Blue Streaks in the postseason. Lake defeated Louisville 49-36 in the 1999 DII North Canton Sectional Tournament and also downed the Leopards 55-29 in the DI North Canton Sectional Semifinal back in 2013.
The victory snaps the Lady Leopards 6 season tournament victory drought, the longest in team history. Louisville’s last tournament win came on February 24, 2011 in a 53-37 Sectional Final victory over the Perry Panthers at Alliance High School. The Leopards are now 4-10 since entering Division I tournament play in 2008 and 43-41 all-time in the postseason overall.
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Varsity Statistics
LEOPARDS 41, BLUE STREAKS 35
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Louisville 5-11-11-14–41
Lake 6-8-12-9–35
Team Statistics
Individual Statistics
Records: Louisville 7-16
