LAGRANGE — For the first time since 2008, the Lakeland girls basketball program will compete for the Northeast Corner Conference Tournament championship.
The Lakers easily defeated Westview, 60-28, in an NECC Tournament semifinal game Friday on their home court. They advance to play Angola for the tournament championship at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Westview High School. Angola defeated Fairfield, 48-28, Friday to advance to the finals.
Meanwhile, in the boys basketball game Friday in LaGrange, it was Central Noble avenging an earlier loss to Westview. The Cougars won a tough 43-38 contest to advance to their second-straight NECC Tournament final. They will play Angola at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Westview. Angola knocked off West Noble, 57-45, to move to Saturday’s final.
GIRLS: LAKELAND 60, WESTVIEW 28
The host Lakers (15-4) scored the first 26 points of the game, putting the contest away early. They led 22-0 after the first quarter and scored the first four points of the second period to cruise to victory.
“Just come out and play the way we normally play,” Lakeland coach Dale Gearheart said was his message to his team before Friday’s game. “Play aggressive, run the ball, throw the ball down (to the post) when we can, get layups, run our stuff — and win the game so we can punch our ticket.”
Westview (3-15) scored its first points of the game on a made basket by senior Katrina Schwartz. She would end up leading the Warriors on offense with 11 points.
“We just have to learn how to compete,” Westview coach Ryan Yoder said. “We’ve talked all year about starting off strong, starting out fast … they’re right there, and they just have to believe it. Lakeland’s definitely a better team than us, but to start out like we did, they’re not that much better from where our girls should be at.”
Also scoring for the Warriors was junior Hailey Miller with seven points, freshman Hope Bortner with five, senior Sara Lapp with four and sophomore Kamryn Miller one.
“Now we’re trying how to figure out how to put a game together,” Yoder said. “We’ve talked about getting ready for sectionals. We know who we have to go through, we know what we’ve got to do … these girls are such good teammates. They listen; they’re receptive to things. We’re just learning how to compete.”
Lakeland was led by senior Bailey Hartsough’s 26 points. Sophomore Peyton Hartsough had nine points, sophomore Faith Riehl seven, senior Madison Keil six, and then six others — Alivia Rasler, Sadie Edsall, Grace Iddings, Hailey Alleshouse, Pilar Candedo and Chloe Hochstetler — had two each.
A chance to win the NECC Tournament is exciting for both the Laker players and Gearheart. They’ll get to play a red-hot Angola team that has won eight in a row, including a 51-46 contest over Lakeland on Jan. 4.
“We have to take care of the basketball,” Gearheart said is the key to victory Saturday. “We have to force (Angola) out of some things that they do well. They’re a scrappy team; they work hard, they’re not going to lay down. We’re not either, so we’re excited about that battle. It’ll be a very competitive game I’m sure.”
BOYS: CENTRAL NOBLE 43, WESTVIEW 38
A game that featured 10 different lead changes saw Central Noble take the lead for good on a pair of free throws from senior Sawyer Yoder with 3:20 remaining in the game.
Westview (8-3) took a 35-32 lead with 5:22 to go on a ‘3’ from junior Mason Yoder. The Cougars (12-1) would respond with a 9-0 run of their own, however, to take a six-point advantage. A 3-pointer from Warrior senior Lyndon Miller made it 41-38 Central Noble with 1:50 to go.
After a couple of empty possessions from both teams, the Cougars would score the final two points of the game on free throws from junior Ryan Schroeder with 22 seconds remaining. It would be the only two points the point guard scored all night.
After Westview won the regular season matchup between the two teams 60-54 on Dec. 12, Central Noble was able to get some revenge Friday in the tournament.
“They battled until the end,” said Central Noble coach John Bodey of his team. “Some plays didn’t go our way; some plays did go our way. Last year, in a tight game like this, we may have just given up because we were so young. … I like the way they battled.”
Central Noble opened the game on a 7-0 run and ultimately built the lead to 12-3 before Westview would close the first quarter on a 9-0 run. A pair of ‘3’s’ from sophomore Brady Yoder and Miller, sandwiched around a three-point play from senior Drew Litwiller, made it a 12-12 game after eight minutes of play.
A Litwiller free throw two minutes into the second quarter gave the Warriors their first lead of the contest. The lead would then change on each of the next five scoring plays as the two teams were even for most of the game. It was 21-21 late into the first half when Cougar junior Connor Essegian drilled a ‘3’ at the buzzer to give his team a three-point lead at halftime.
Central Noble built the lead to seven, 28-21, early in the third period. Westview then countered with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 29-28 advantage into the final quarter of the game.
The Cougars were led on offense by Essegian’s 15 points, all of which came in the first half. Junior Logan Gard had 13 points, Sawyer Yoder 10, sophomore Conner Lemmon three and Schroeder two.
For Westview, Lyndon Miller led the way with 15 points. Mason Yoder had 10, Brady Yoder seven, Litwiller four and senior Caleb Corey two.
