Playing on the road is difficult for any team in any sport, but especially basketball, where a rowdy opposing crowd can make life miserable. Shutting out an opponent in the first quarter on their home floor definitely helps settle a visiting team and sets the tone for a good game. The Lake Center Christian School Lady Tigers (7-5) did just that in their Jan. 26 road victory against Christian Community School by a count of 42-21.
The Tigers vaulted out to an 8-0 lead after one quarter thanks to a stifling defense that held the Warriors to 9-of-44 shooting (20.5 percent) on the night. In the second quarter, LCCS put on an offensive burst to once again outscore the Warriors by eight points (15-7) and take a comfortable 23-7 lead into halftime. Leading the way for the Tigers was senior forward Mary Miller, who continued a strong run in recent weeks by posting 14 points and 16 rebounds. Coming on the heels of strong performances against Springfield, Elyria Open Door and East Canton, Miller's scoring made her the only LCCS player in double figures in a low-scoring game. Other top scorers for the Tigers on the night were sophomore guard Emily Guyer (seven points) and junior Anna McMullen (six points).
The Tigers did nearly all of their scoring on two-point field goals, hitting just one 3-pointer and one free throw on the night. It was Guyer who knocked down her team's lone shot from long range, but head coach Tom White wasn't concerned with the lack of outside shooting.
"The girls did nice job running the offense," White said. "This was opponent we felt we could beat if we executed and so we focused on running offense, going through the entire scheme and getting deeper into it on every possession. There was no JV game, varsity only, so we had a deeper bench and everyone played at least four minutes."
The added depth was on display in the first quarter as 10 different players saw action, including several who had limited or no varsity experience this year. Building a large early lead allowed White to provide valuable experience to help his bench players grow and learn.
The win was an especially important one for LCCS as it came off a week with back-to-back losses to East Canton and Canton Timken. Bouncing back from consecutive losses can be a tough mental hurdle, but doing so on the road makes the task all the tougher. With that in mind, White was pleased with the way his team responded to adversity, especially their ability to get off to a strong start.
"That's exactly what happened," White said. "Defensively, we tried out a defense we had been toying with for a while and it proved to be very effective. Overall, the girls focused on getting back in order and back to the positive way of doing things we had established earlier this season. We wanted to get back to where we were because we had slipped a bit in terms of focus and execution."
That focus in execution was evident in the rebounding battle, where Miller's 16 boards led the Tigers to a healthy 40-16 advantage. The Tigers also dominated defensively and were able to consistently force turnovers to prevent the Warriors from establishing any continuity or consistency on the offensive end.
Learning to win on the road will also be a key lesson for the Tigers for the remainder of the season. The Christian Community School game kicked off a string of seven road games in the Tigers' final eight regular-season contests, with the lone home game coming on Feb. 8 against St. Thomas Aquinas. Looking ahead at the rugged road schedule that awaits his team as the final month of the season begins, White knows the Tigers will have to apply all the lessons they have learned thus far and keep their focus in order to be successful.
"Finishing with so many road games is definitely tough thing, but tournament is on the road and we need to prepare for that, so what we talked about was using this game as a stepping stone," White said.
"When we get somewhere (for a road game) and it's just us, we have to stand as a team and be unified. It has been good home season, but now we need to learn to win on the road. In building a program, learning how to win in hostile environments when there's not a lot of support behind you is a key part of the program. We excited about the opportunity to grow and it will be good for us in the long run."
