WILKES-BARRE — As two quick passes zipped inside for basket by Ella Wilson, Lake-Lehman felt things were going to end up differently this time around.
The Black Knights were correct. Wilson’s baskets bumped the lead to double digits for the first time and Holy Redeemer never made a significant dent in the deficit. The result was a 59-50 victory by Lehman on Wednesday night that tightened up the Division 2 race in Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball.
Redeemer (7-1 Div. 2, 10-8 overall) is still in first place, but Lehman (6-1, 12-4) picked up a win that might have saved its chance at a divisional three-peat.
“If we lost this game, we were probably out of it for the division title,” Lehman coach Charlie Lavan said. “This keeps us alive for the division title. We’re the two time division champ and we want to win it again.”
Lehman wouldn’t have been eliminated mathematically, but realistically Wednesday’s game certainly would have placed Redeemer in a practically insurmountable lead based on the remaining games.
Prior to Wilson’s basket that gave Lehman a 34-22 lead at 5:18 of the third quarter, the Black Knights finished the second quarter on an 11-0 run that gave them a 28-20 halftime lead. They never trailed from that point forward.
Redeemer chipped away and dwindled the Lehman advantage to 50-42 with 3:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Royals came away empty on a possession and the Black Knights then found more points in the paint. Brenna Hunt whipped a pass inside to Wilson, who ended up with a three-point play for a 53-42 lead.
“We got a lot of nice backdoor buckets against their man defense,” Lavan said. “When they went man, we really executed some nice stuff, some nice cuts and nice backdoor buckets.”
Hailey Kline also helped Lehman control the boards as she finished with 14 rebounds to go with 14 points.
Redeemer’s offense also went cold during a stretch in the second quarter and extending into the third. The Royals were 10 seconds shy of going eight minutes without a field goal. Their only points came on a pair of free throws by Meghan Albrecht.
“They wanted it more today,” Redeemer coach John Jezorwski said. “They got every loose ball. When you don’t get consecutive baskets and you don’t get your better touching the ball for numerous offensive possessions, it’s going to be tough especially when you’re playing good teams.”
Lake-Lehman 59, Holy Redeemer 50
LAKE-LEHMAN (59) — Kline 4 5-8 14, Hunt 7 2-2 16, Wilson 6 5-8 18, Keefe 2 3-5 7, Jenkins 1 2-2 4, Biscotto 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 17-25 59.
HOLY REDEEMER (50) — Quinn 0 0-0 0, Cegelka 3 0-0 7, Albrecht 3 4-4 11, Boylan 1 0-0 2, Kroptavich 2 0-0 6, Racicky 2 0-0 4, Corridoni 1 0-0 2, Ashton 2 1-3 5, DelBalso 3 0-0 7, Karnes 0 1-2 1, Chimoch 2 0-0 5. Totals 19 6-9 50.
Lake-Lehman`10`18`15`16 — 59
Holy Reedeemer`9`11`11`19 — 50
Three-point goals — LL 2 (Kline, Wilson). HR 6 (Cegelka, Albrecht, Kroptavich 2, DelBalso, Chimoch)
