The Lakeland women's basketball team played host to the Terra State Titans tonight in OCCAC action and earned a hard-fought 44-40 victory to split the season series. With the win, the Lakers improve to 12-8 overall and 7-3 in conference play. In the 1st quarter, the Lakers trailed 14-8 before Kanija Kimbrough scored a pair of layups - one as the time expired to bring Lakeland within 2 points, 14-12, at the end of the quarter. In the 2nd quarter, Gabriella Moore got things going with a driving layup and then a free throw after the foul to put the Lakers up 15-14 early. Following a Titan miss, Monetta Hilory scored on a layup. After another Titan miss, Joh'niqua Clay scored on a spinning layup to put the Lakers up 19-14. Later in the quarter, Monetta Hilory stole the ball and scored on a layup to put Lakeland up 21-14. The Lakers then missed a couple of shots and committed a foul enabling the Titans to crawl back into the game. Lakeland went into the break with a 21-19 advantage.

In the 3rd quarter, both teams fed off a few small runs. The Lakers built a 30-27 lead on the strength of a Kennedy Coleman 3-pointer and an offensive rebound and layup from Monetta Hilory. The Titans battled back and took a 31-30 lead after consecutive Lakeland turnovers. Joh'niqua Clay then grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup to put the Lakers back up 32-31. After a Titan miss, Coleman drained another 3-pointer to put the Lakers up 35-31. The Titans would then score a basket before Kennedy Coleman closed out the period with a layup to give the Lakers a 37-33 lead after 3 quarters of play. In the 4th quarter, the teams would go 3 scoreless minutes before Monetta Hilory broke the ice and scored a layup on a pass from Raegan Perkins-Hirz.  Following a Titan basket, the teams would go another 3 minutes before Joh'niqua Clay scored on a driving layup to put the Lakers up 41-35. With under 2 minutes to play, Coleman was fouled and connected on 1-2 free throws to put Lakeland up 42-35. The Titans would then take advantage of a Laker turnover and foul to bring them within 2 points, 42-44, with under a minute to play. Lakeland would then hit a couple of free throws down the stretch to close out the win.

Kennedy Coleman led Lakeland with 15 points on the strength of three 3-pointers. Kanija Kimbrough finished her night with 10 points while Monetta Hilory added 8 points for the Lakers. Joh'niqua Clay finished wih 6 points while Gabriella Moore recorded 5 points in the win. Raegan Perkins-Hirz and Emerson Hren played solid in the middle and helped control the boards while Arianna Vera was solid with the ball for the Lakers.   

Coach Gardy's Gab: "Defensively we did a good job. We really focused on defensive rotations and help on their bigs and we did a nice job shutting down their post players. I was pleased how we worked the ball offensively and controlled the pace of the game. We really did a nice job following the game plan - always good to get a conference win."

Next Up: On Sunday (2/15), the Lakers will travel to Niagara County Community College to face the Thunderwolves in non-league play. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.