Basketball Results: Dec. 21
LCA FIND ROUGH ROADS AT BETHANY TOURNEY
Lakeland Christian went a combined 1-3 at the Bethany Christian boys and girls basketball tournament Saturday.
The LCA boys went 0-2 while the girls split its two games in the day-long slate.
LCA’s girls lost to Elkhart Christian 45-27 in the morning session but recovered for a 37-30 win over Trinity in the nightcap. The LCA boys were bumrushed by ECA in the morning opener, 76-13, and couldn’t catch the host Bruins, 48-35.
The LCA boys ran into a buzzsaw with the pressure ECA put on in the morning game. ECA forced LCA into four consecutive turnovers right out of the gate, which turned into seven points. After Issac Bevier hit a three, the Eagles were rolling at 24-6. ECA would produce a 20-0 run in the first half to quickly put the game on ice.
“We weren’t in the right spots,” stated LCA head coach Chris Hohm in reference to ECA’s “Arkansas” press coverage. “We talked to the guys about taking a breath when the pressure was on. Once we settled down, we started to make the easy pass, but that took far too long for us to get to that point. Elkhart was already breaking us down pretty easily by the time I thought our guys were starting to get comfortable on the court.”
Game two saw LCA’s offense continue to struggle, losing to their rivals for the second time this month. Bethany, which beat LCA by 14 the first week of December, held LCA to just six field goals in the first half, taking an 11-point lead into the half.
The Cougars had Peter Koller lead the team with eight points and four assists and Silas Gagnon come in with seven points and three rebounds.
In the girls split, LCA hit a dry patch in the morning game against ECA to which it couldn’t recover. Trailing just 28-22 in the second half, LCA suffered through nine straight empty possessions while the Eagles went on a 7-0 run and a 13-point lead with just over six minutes left in the game.
Jessi Calizo hit a three to get LCA back within 10, but ECA closed the game on an 8-0 run.
“We’ve been really inconsistent with turnovers,” said LCA girls coach Allison Kauffman, whose team committed 21 of them against ECA. “We will go through stretches where we take care of the ball, then go through stretches where we can’t hold the ball at all and the other team goes on a run against us. We’re working on being more consistent taking care of the ball, but with a lot of new players to our varsity rotation, sometimes you have to take on some growing pains.”
Calizo led LCA with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. Natalie Norris added five steals and four rebounds.
Abbey McKibbin led ECA with 13 points and Maria Youngen added 11 points.
LCA salvaged a win in game two using double-doubles from Jessi Calizo and Tori Calizo. Jessi led the team with 16 points and 15 rebounds, adding four steals and three assists while Tori had 10 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Norris had six points and six rebounds.
CC Cullinan and Theresa Pingel each had eight points in the loss.
NORTHWOOD GIRLS 51, PLYMOUTH 30
Kendal Miller went off a for a career-high 19 points to pace NorthWood to a big win at The Rock.
Miller hadn’t scored in double digits all season, and only twice in her career, before torching Plymouth. Miller was 8-8 from the free throw line among her performance.
Maddy Payne added 14 points and Alea Minnich seven points in the win, moving the Black Swish to 4-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference.
Claire Tanner scored nine of her team-high 16 points in the first quarter for Plymouth.
Plymouth’s JV won big Saturday night, 56-18.
PIONEER GIRLS 46, TRITON 30
Pioneer defended its home court Saturday night in the Hoosier North Athletic Conference contest. Stats from the game were not immediately provided.
WARSAW BOYS 57, KOKOMO 38
As part of the Champions of Character Showcase at Grace College, Warsaw moved to 7-1 on the season with a lopsided win over Kokomo.
Warsaw used a 19-9 second quarter to pull away from the Wildcats.
Stats for the contest were not immediately supplied.
The Tiger freshman team beat Michigan City, 70-30, and LaPorte, 61-41, in a doubleheader of work at WCHS. Russ Winchester combined for 34 points and Drew Heckaman had 32 points in the two games to lead the hosts.
LCA WINS JR. HIGH TITLE
LCA’s middle school boys team beat a pair of opponents to win its home tournament held Saturday at LCA.
LCA first beat South Bend Career Academy, 37-33, led by Micah Martin’s 13 points and 21 combined points from Isaiah Lara and Mel Norris. In the final, LCA had 16 points from Lara in a 33-21 capper. Norris and Martin combined for 17 points in the championship. LCA concludes its junior high boys season with a 13-2 mark.