Lady Lancers defeat Continental

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A strong second half allowed the Lincolnview Lady Lancers to pull away from Continental and win 54-26 during Saturday’s season opener at Lincolnview High School.

The Lady Lancers led 14-5 after the first quarter and 19-14 at halftime, then went on to outscore the Lady Pirates 35-12 in the second half.

“We won, and it’s always nice to open the season with a win,” Lincolnview head coach Dan Williamson said.

The Lady Lancers opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run on back-to-back baskets by Kayla Schimmoeller, and a bucket by Alena Looser. By the 3:26 mark of the quarter, Lincolnview’s lead was stretched to 31-18. Looser hit buzzer-beating three-pointer to make it 36-20.

Maddie Gorman keyed a 12-0 run to open the final quarter. Gorman hit two treys, Looser hit two baskets, and Schimmoeller added another bucket to increase Lincolnview’s lead to 48-20. Schimmoeller finished with a game high 13 points, including six in the first quarter, while Looser had 11.

Lincolnview enjoyed a 24-17 rebounding advantage, and Williamson said offensive rebounding was a key factor for the Lady Lancers.

“Offensive rebounds definitely helped,” Williamson said. “It opened up some things on the outside and Maddie Gorman was able to knock down two big threes, and that opened some things for other players.”

Defensively, Lincolnview held the Lady Pirates to 12-of-34 shooting (35 percent), including just 1-of-7 from behind the arc. The Lady Lancers also held Continental to single digits in each of the four quarters.

“I was really surprised with how well our 1-3-1 zone worked,” Williamson said.

Both teams struggled from the free throw line. Continental was just 1-of-5, while Lincolnview was 6-of-18.

Williamson said while he was pleased with the win and the effort, he knows the team has work to do before Saturday afternoon’s home game against Ottoville.

“Our offensive execution is something we’re going to have to clean up,” Williamson explained. “We’re also going to have to be able to handle their pressure, so we need to work on our press breakers, where we want to go with the ball and where we don’t want to go with it.

Scoring summary:

Lincolnview 14 5 17 18 – 54
Continental   5 9  6  6 –   26

Lincolnview: Olivia Gorman 2-0-5, Frankie Carey 2-1-5, Jordan Decker 1-2-4, Maddie Gorman 2-0-6, Adia Welch 2-0-6, Alena Looser 5-0-11, Kayla Schimmoeller 6-1-13, Lakin Brant 1-2-4.

Continental: Brooke Bradford 1-0-2, Addyson Armey 5-0-11, Maddie Burke 0-1-1, Alex Hoeffel 1-0-2, Amber Logan 4-0-8, Madi Sharp 1-0-2.

JV: Lincolnview won 42-10.