Entering the fourth quarter with a 31-30 lead, Winton Woods was able to pull away and snap a two-game winning streak for Lakota East by defeating the Thunderhawks by the score of 46-39 on Monday night.
Sophomores Kandace Satterwhite and Cydney Franklin led Lakota East with 10 points apiece. Satterwhite also pulled down 12 rebounds, which is a career high.
The loss drops Lakota East’s record to 2-6 this season. The Thunderhawks, who are 2-2 in the Greater Miami Conference, will visit Oak Hills (2-7, 1-4 in GMC) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
After eight seniors graduated in 2012, the Lakota East girls’ basketball team opened the 2012-2013 season Saturday with a new young core of student athletes.
Lakota East sophomore Cydney Franklin is one of the few returning student athletes on the girls’ basketball roster this season. In 2011-2012, Franklin averaged 5.3 points per game as a freshman. File photo.
In the season opener, the Thunderhawks took McAuley – the No. 3 ranked team in The Cincinnati Enquirer coaches’ preseason poll – to the closing seconds before falling 52-50.
Leading Lakota East – No. 8 in The Enquirer poll – in scoring was freshman guard Sam Rogers, who finished with 14 points. Sophomores Kandace Satterwhite (7 points), Leah Goodwin (8 points) and Cydney Franklin (6 points) also helped keep the Thunderhawks in the game.
Heading into the opener, Lakota East head coach Nikki Drew said she was frequently asked by the local media about the rebuilding process for her team since 2012 graduates like Molly Blomer (Nova Southeastern), Whitney Wyckoff (Yale) , Bernice Satterwhite (Carl Albert State), Alyssa Grevenkamp (Findlay), Tazzie Shaw (originally committed to Marshall) and Aleth Pashi (Otterbein) were all recruited to play college basketball.
“They were a special group,” Drew said. “They were with me for three and four years.
“Some will call it a rebuilding year, but honestly what has been making it easier is the group that I have now. They very much resemble, from a mind set and work ethic rate, my last group when they were sophomores.”
While the 2012 graduating class excelled offensively, Drew sees her young group as more of a defensive team.
“They are talented, so the promise is definitely there,” Drew said. “My group, who just graduated played a different style. They were more offensive oriented and my group now can get out and play defense. They are fast and super athletic. So looking at them on paper they look very different, but from the intangible standpoint they are very similar.”
The Thunderhawks will try to get into the win column when they host Carroll in their home opener Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Lakota East will have to face Mason – No. 2 in The Enquirer poll – on the road at 2 p.m.
Cincinnati Enquirer contributor Tom Ramstetter reports:
Senior forward Keri Kleist scored 17 points and senior guard Chloe Pavlech added 14 as the top-ranked Sycamore girls’ basketball team cruised past Lakota East 48-39 Saturday afternoon in a Greater Miami Conference girls’ basketball game at Lakota East.
It was the 16th straight win for the Aviators, who took over the top spot in the Enquirer Division I coaches poll from Princeton last week after a win at Princeton Jan. 25. The Aves’ last loss came at the hands of the Vikings Dec. 3.
“(Our schedule) has been brutal,” Sycamore coach Paula Hayden said. “We knew after Princeton that we could not afford another loss. Princeton has that reputation of running the gamut. So Princeton was a big game for us. We beat them, but then we had (Lakota) West, Colerain and (Lakota) East who are three of the top teams in the GMC. Every game, I put on the board that today is a championship game.”
Lakota East, ranked No. 4, was the fourth game in that stretch and Saturday was the Thunderhawks’ Senior Night game. Despite Sycamore building a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, East stormed back to cut the lead to 40-34 with 2:59 to play on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Cydney Franklin to cap a 6-0 run.
Hayden called a timeout at that point and looked to her seniors to come out of the break and make a play. Pavlech drew the attention of the defense out of the inbounds and found a wide-open Kleist under the basket for a momentum-stealing layup.
“She did exactly what we wanted her to do,” Kleist said of Pavlech. “The coaches wanted her to drive because they know that people will help and I’ll be able to be wide open. It felt really great to get that pass and know it was going in. Plays like those really get me pumped. It felt good to beat them on their Senior Night.”
The play was not designed specifically for Kleist, but Hayden knew something would open up.
“We were moving the ball,” Hayden said. “Chloe broke down the defense. She drew three people, bounce-passed to Keri and Keri finished. We worked on that yesterday and we worked on it today. They executed.”
Pavlech was the key to another turning-point play in the first half, giving the Aviators the lead for good at 14-12 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 6:25 to play before halftime. Lakota East had just taken its first lead of the game, 12-11, on a 3-pointer from the wing by Bernice Satterwhite to cap a 7-0 run. Pavlech followed her 3-pointer with two free throws and Lakota East got no closer than four points the rest of the way.
“The biggest thing I thought was for us not to lose our composure and I kind of knew at the same time, we needed a big shot for us to get pumped,” Pavlech said. “I had missed my first three threes, but the fourth one I had confidence it was going in. I was wide-open at the top of the key and I decided to shoot it. That just got us super pumped. From then on, everyone believed this was our game.”
Satterwhite led the Thunderhawks with 14 points and Franklin added 11.
The Aviators travel to Middletown next Saturday for the regular-season finale with a chance to clinch their first GMC title since sharing the crown with Colerain and Princeton in the 1999-2000 season and their first outright GMC title since winning two straight in 1992-1993 and 1993-1994, if they get a little help with a Princeton loss, according to the GMC website.
“It’s amazing,” Pavlech said. “This feels great. We have a sign in our locker room that says we will be No. 1 and that’s what we’re working for. For us to have a chance to be No. 1 in the GMC is a big deal because our league is very competitive and very good.”
The league has been very good for a long time, but Hayden had a special feeling about this team before the season.
“I told the girls that for the first time ever, and I’ve been coaching a long, long time, that I put them No. 1 in the city and put them No.1 in the GMC,” Hayden said. “I don’t do that unless I believe in my heart that was a possibility.
“They know, but they’re not overly excited. They’re happy. They’re pleased. But it’s not over.”
After losing two of its last three games, the Lakota East girls’ basketball team rebounded with a 62-52 win at Mason Wednesday.
Both teams entered the contest in the top four of The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Division I coaches poll. Lakota East is currently ranked No. 3, while Mason is No. 4.
Four players scored in double figures for the Thunderhawks including senior Bernice Satterwhite (16 points), senior Alyssa Grevenkamp (12 points), freshman Cydney Franklin (10 points) and senior Molly Blomer (19 points).
Senior Brianna Glover and junior Kayla McDowell led the Comets. Glover, who is committed to play at Xavier, scored 15 points and had 7 rebounds. McDowell finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
With the win Lakota East improves its record to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Greater Miami Conference. Mason, on the other hand, falls to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the GMC.
The Thunderhawks next game will be Saturday when they will host Princeton (9-0 overall, 6-0 in the GMC) at 7:30 p.m. Mason will also be in action Saturday at Hamilton (8-3 overall, 3-3 in the GMC) at 2 p.m.
Lakota East 62, Mason 52
Lakota East
13
14
20
15
62
Mason
10
4
17
21
52
Lakota East (7-2, 5-1 in the GMC) – B. Satterwhite 4 8 16, Grevenkamp 4 0 12, K. Satterwhite 0 2 2, Pashi 1 0 3, Franklin 3 3 10, Blomer 6 4 19. Totals: 19 15 62.
In a series once dominated by Lakota West, the Thunderhawks cruised to a 61-54 victory against their school district rival at Lakota East High School Wednesday.
The win gives Lakota East – No. 2 in the Cincinnati Enquirer Division I coaches’ poll – their third straight against the Firebirds. The win also marks the 100th victory for Lakota East head coach Nikki Drew.
Prior to the three-game winning streak, Lakota West – No. 4 in the Enquirer poll – had taken down the Thunderhawks in 18 straight contests.
This time, Lakota East earned the win despite playing without two key seniors, Whitney Wyckoff (Yale commit) and Tazzie Shaw (Marshall commit), who will both continue their basketball careers at the collegiate level.
“I told my players and staff that true character shows when you are put through obstacles and we talked about responding the right way, controlling what we can and the girls did that,” Drew said.
Wyckoff, who has led Lakota East in scoring for the past three seasons, was ruled out for the season by Drew after the senior suffered a knee injury in the 50-21 win against Oak Hills Saturday.
In place of the 5-foot-10 Wyckoff, freshman Cydney Franklin made her first varsity start. The 5-foot-4 Franklin finished with a career high 10 points. She also had four rebounds and two assists. (more…)
