(La Porte County, IN) - The girls’ basketball team from La Lumiere School has won four games in a row.
The Lakers defeated Lake Forest, Ill. at home 70-51 on Saturday, February 11th.
On February 10th, La Lumiere jumped out to a big lead and held on to win 63-56 at home against the Capital Home School Academy Program. La Lumiere praised early in the game by head coach Matt Marvin for their execution in moving the ball on offense led 17-3 just before the end of the first quarter.
The Chariots (17-4) from East Lansing, Michigan cut the lead to six points, though, early in the second quarter.
The Lakers (11-11) regained the momentum on two quick buckets then extended the lead to 15 points from scores by Ashlynn Shade and Shena Fleming. The lead dropped to 11 points until La Lumiere scored the last three buckets during the last 30 seconds of the first half.
Mary McClintock nailed a three point shot from the baseline and Shade dribbled coast to coast for a lay-up before Fleming sank a long three point shot at the halftime buzzer. The lead grew to 19 points early in the third quarter but the Chariots pulled to within 9 points with over six minutes left in the game.
Marvin said the comeback attempt happened after he put in the game several bench players, including three freshmen, to give them some quality time on the court.
CHAP didn’t get much closer once all five starters returned and stayed in for the remainder of the game.
Shade, who made several short turn around jump shots with plenty of hang time, led the Lakers with 27 points.
Simmons, a 5’7” junior guard, added 11 points.
The Lakers have three games all on the road left in the regular season. Marvin said the team has improved significantly and is much better than what their record reflects.
What he described as the toughest schedule of any girls’ high school program in the nation has included recent losses at home to South Bend Washington and Fremd High School outside Chicago.
Both of those opponents were ranked No. 1 in their respective states going into the match-ups with La Lumiere, who exchanged leads with both squads until the second half.
He said his players have improved noticeably from playing against tough competition is more ways than one.
“They grew and got better not only on the court but also off the court, which is really cool to see,” he said.
Seven of their players are from La Porte, Michigan City, South Bend and Granger. The rest of the players are from Indianapolis, Noblesville, Vermont and Poland.
A few years ago, the girls’ basketball program began accepting from outside the area student athletes who perform well academically in an effort to one day, perhaps, compete on a national level.
Shade is viewed as easily the best player recruited since the program was upgraded.
“I think we can build on that and continue to grow and have a great program,” he said.
