Lakeside girls deny Ashdown in tourney
Lakeside overcame a slow start on Tuesday to take a 57-44 victory over Ashdown Tuesday at the Lakeside Athletic Complex.
Maddie Trusty scored on a steal to give the Lady Rams a final possession with less than a minute in the closing period of their first game in the Lakeside Classic. Ashton Patrick sank a quick bucket from two-point range. Miller Dickerson hit 3 of 4 free throws in the fourth quarter for the Lady Rams’ final points.
“I’m happy with our depth,” said Lakeside head coach Chris Brock. “We’ve got a lot of girls getting in and started playing a lot of girls here early. I feel like depth is going to be really good for us this year and better than it’s been the last few.”
Trailing the Lady Panthers, 24-18, at the close of the opening period, the Lady Rams put up 10 straight points in the second quarter. Patrick added 11 points of her own, including a pair of back-to-back treys.
Chloe Porter set the tone as she buried a shot from behind the arc early into the second period while Trusty added a quick layup to cut the deficit to two points. With less than two minutes remaining before the halftime break, Patrick shot for two as Lakeside found the lead, 34-30.
“I was disappointed in the first quarter in how we played defense,” Brock said. “We gave up 24 points in the first quarter so we switched, got out of the 1-3-1 and went man-to-man then they scored 20 total in the rest of the game. I was pleased with how we played defensively in the last three quarters.”
As both teams traded baskets, Lakeside’s Adachi Igbokidi and Lindsey Davis claimed one for two apiece in the third frame. Porter converted on both attempts from the free throw line to stretch the Rams’ lead to 45-36.
Patrick opened the third quarter with another trey and a layup. Ashdown’s Kenya Wilson answered with a trey of her own alongside a pair of layups to pull the Lady Panthers within 50-41 to start the fourth..
“I didn’t think our competitive level was good enough in the first period,” Brock said. “We shot the ball pretty well the entire game so I was pleased about that. After the first quarter, we just changed what we were doing and tried to stop them.”
“We have to continue to do the little things really well … we’ve got to do a good job blocking out, play low on defense and that we communicate on defense. Overall, I’m happy with the start we’ve had, but I know we have a long way to go.”
Patrick led the Lady Rams with 31 points and added three assists. Porter led with four steals, seven assists and added 13 points.
Dickerson and Igbokidi had seven rebounds each, while Trusty added four. Erika Bittinger had five assists and three steals.
Lakeside will play again on Saturday in the tournament against Malvern at 11:15 a.m.