The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Ursuline’s Lewis, Hill are D-II stars worth watching
The least surprising storyline at the Osborne Center on Jan. 27 was Ursuline College senior standouts Laney Lewis and Camryn Hill filling up the stat sheet and leading the Arrows to an 81-67 victory over the host Lake Erie College Storm.
Lewis, a 6-foot-1, do-everything wing player, and Hill, a 6-foot-2 center-forward, combined for 50 points and 20 rebounds as the Arrows upped their record to 14-6 overall and 11-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Ursuline, the women’s-focused school in Pepper Pike with a national reputation for its nursing programs, is in the hunt for a third straight regular-season title in the GMAC. That’s the case because no other team in this vastly improved conference hits the floor with a duo nearly as dynamic as this one.
Lewis finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocked shots. It was her 15th double-double of a season in which she almost certainly will be honored as G-MAC Player of the Year for the third straight time.
The former LynchburgClay High School star came in averaging 19.4 points, 13.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists. She’s on course to average a double-double for the third straight season.
She ought to receive serious consideration for Division II first-team AllAmerica honors.
Against the Storm, who gave a good accounting of themselves under difficult circumstances, Hill finished with a game-high 28 points, eight rebounds (five offensive) and two steals. The Strongsville High School product came in averaging 16.5 points and 7.6 rebounds. She has the inside track on joining Lewis as a GMAC first-team honoree for the second time in three seasons.
The playing styles of Lewis and Hill are different but nicely fit together at both ends of the floor in fifth-year UC coach Shannon Sword’s system.
Offensively, Lewis is effective all over the court in a way that invites comparisons, weighted for obvious differences in competition levels, to LeBron James, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. There isn’t anything she can’t do with the ball in her hands. She often brings the ball up the court against pressure defenses in high-leverage situations. She has great court vision both as a scorer and passer. She doesn’t
hoist many 3-pointers. But when she does, they often find their way into the basket. She’s a tenacious rebounder and defender.
She’s also a vocal leader on the court who, averaging 37.7 minutes this season, rarely comes off it.
Hill is versatile offensively, able to use her size and strength to great effect in the low post. She can power up in traffic or roll away from defenders to score on hook shots or scoops with either hand. The differencemaker in Hill’s arsenal is the deft shooting touch that allows her to hurt opponents from beyond the arc. She was 3-for-6 from 3-point range against the Storm and has 33 treys this season, fourth on the team.
While she isn’t as proficient a rebounder statistically as Lewis, Hill has a knack for getting the ball of the backboard or rim when it matters.
Since she sometimes gets in foul trouble because of her physicality, Hill is averaging just under 30 minutes this season. She played 38 minutes against the Storm, however, the same as Lewis, and seemed none the worse for wear as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Hill and Lewis combined for 23 points in the
first quarter of UC’s latest victory. They set a tone the Arrows maintained despite several runs by an LEC team still processing the abrupt firing five days earlier of 13-year head coach Bob Booher. Playing their second game for new coach Sarah Bonar, the Storm slipped to 9-11 overall and 5-9 in the GMAC.
Again, the ability of Lewis and Hill to dramatically shape the course of this game was hardly breaking news. On their watch, with help from other talented players recruited by Storm in her five years on the job, UC has won the aforementioned two regular-season titles, the 2016 GMAC tournament title and appeared in the 2016 and 2017 NCAA tournaments.
Over the last two-plus seasons, the Arrows are 62-18.
If you fancy yourself a college basketball fan and haven’t yet seen Lewis and Hill play in person, you owe it to yourself to make the trip to UC’s Seidman Gymnasium for one of the three remaining home games in the regular season.
It’s a great place to watch basketball, and these are two great Division II players.