The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Lutheran West, Wellington pick up wins
The Longhorns topped Columbia and the Dukes defeated Brookside to pick up Patriot Athletic Conference victories as teams prepare for the holiday break
Getting into a rhythm early, Lutheran West remained in sync on offense and road that wave to a 5734 victory over visiting Columbia on Dec. 19.
During one of the busiest times of the year for student athletes, the Longhorns girls just threw away all the distractions after a week long layoff and had fun playing basketball.
Combating finals, the holiday break and the dawning of the long stretch of the schedule, Lutheran West played high-intensity basketball while staying on the game plan.
“I was actually really looking forward to this tonight because I’ve just had so much going on,” junior Paris Mather said after putting up a 10 point performance. “It’s nice just to have fun doing something else for a change.”
Focusing solely on the game, the Longhorns were disruptive to the Raiders as Lutheran West filled passing lanes and stayed active on defense with quick hands to force turnovers early and not allow Columbia to get into motion.
And Lutheran West’s active defense paid off, as there was no slowing the Longhorns’ transition game. Finishing shots under the basket with numbers, senior Larnae Vance dropped 12 hard-fought points in the effort and credits it all to the long practice hours.
“Our transition, that’s our main focus in practice. We’re always trying to get more from the transition on defense and trying to hurry and set our press up and our main goal is try to get in the middle and stop that pass,” Vance said. “That goes to our goal of trying not to let the ball get past mid court on defense.”
Coach Trey Senney said he was pleased with the way his team came out and performed.
“We’ve been up and down all year in terms of game performance, confidence, energy level and I thought tonight was a really, really good game from an energy standpoint and that’s something we really needed,” Senney said. “We’ve felt all year long that we have a lot of talent, LUTHERAN WEST 57, COLUMBIA 34
we just haven’t put it together and I feel like tonight was the first stamping of us putting it together as a team.”
On top of that energy, the Longhorns channeled hard work into good and extra passes as the team finished the night with 12 assists on 23 made shots. Being caught in that selfless flow is what makes the game so much fun for Vance and Mather.
“Our coach, one of the things he talked about to us before the game was playing inside out and you want to make sure you get the ball to the post. Don’t just take open 3’s. Make sure you’re working inside out to find that open shot,” Mather said. “When we do, that’s when we hit those open shots or find that post entry pass. So that’s kind of how we share the ball and we’re not a selfish team to begin with.”
Columbia first year coach Corey Taylor said he hopes his team can grow and evolve into a team like Lutheran West.
“Its going to take some time. It’s going to take a process and slowly, but surely, we’re putting it together as a team and once we put it together, we’re going to be just fine,” Taylor said. “It’s taking time and it can be frustrating, but they’ve responded really well and they didn’t quit. That’s all I can really ask.
“They (Lutheran West) are what we’re aspiring to be by the end of the season,”