The Lady Rams fought to the very end, but couldn’t overcome a late fourth-quarter deficit, as they fall to the Lake County Lancers, 53-50 in their season debut.
Things started a little bit shaky for the Lady Rams in their first game, falling behind 8-2 early in the first quarter. Lake County’s fast start was anchored by strong defense, which lead to turnovers and easy transition opportunities. The Lancers showed their aggression early and often by getting to the free throw line six times right out of the gate.
The momentum of the game started to shift towards the Lady Rams around the four-minute mark of the first quarter, after shooting guard Ariana Castro exploded for six straight points. Castro started her scoring off with a 3-pointer from long range, which got the crowd right back into the game. On the next possession, she got fouled while going up for a layup and went to the line for an and-one attempt. After making the free throw, Castro and the Lady Rams tied the game at eight a piece.
The Lady Rams used the momentum that they gained to finish the first quarter strong, limiting the number of turnovers and fouls that they were committing. While time was running down late in the first quarter, point guard Jaysha Roman demanded the ball at the top of the key and calmly drilled a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and bring the Rams within one at 12-11.
In the huddle at the end of the first quarter, Head coach Zaporia Smith emphasized to her team that they “needed to take better care of the ball on offense, and to have active hands and active feet on defense, and to never stop moving.”
The Rams started the scoring off in the second quarter, following an offensive rebound and put-back layup by forward Kaylee Morales. Despite the shaky start to the game, the team started to play fundamental team basketball, working the ball to the open teammate, and getting the ball to the paint for easy opportunities. Going into the halftime break, the game was knotted up at 20 each.
At halftime, Smith said that the message to her team was that they “need to adjust quicker on their defensive rotations, work on getting the ball inside the paint, which will lead to the Lady Lancers getting into foul trouble, and us getting to the free throw line."
Smith decided to go with the hot hand to start the second half, inserting Ariana Castro into the lineup in place of Serena Diaz. Coach Smith said that she made this move because “Ariana’s performance in the first half against Lake County was what we needed to start the second half off." Adding, "Ariana brings pressure to her opponents and is always in position to score."
While the change in the lineup brought a faster style of play, it didn’t result in the Lady Rams taking the lead in the second half. After Lake County jumped off to an early 26-23 lead in the second half, Smith called a timeout to calm her team down. After the timeout, however, the Lady Rams committed a turnover which led to a fast-break basket, and the Lake County lead grew even more.
The Lady Rams' defense was solid despite a shaky offense, and that is one of the main reasons they remained in the game. After a huge turnover caused by Morales, the Lady Rams pushed the fast break and center Tyler Mayne finished with a strong layup.
Mayne was a huge key to the rams in the third quarter as they looked to battle back from their deficit. In just the third quarter alone, Mayne was able to score seven points and did a lot of the dirty work for the Lady Rams by blocking shots, and grabbing rebounds, as they trimmed the deficit to 34-29.
The Rams had to play a majority of the third quarter without their leader, and point guard Jaysha Roman. Roman was on the bench for the third quarter due to foul trouble. “It was a struggle benching Jaysha when she picked up her 4th foul early in the third. However, when she wasn’t on the court the Lady Rams were still able to play twice as hard to try and take the lead. We were able to get them in the bonus early which led to us getting to the free throw line.”
Early in the start of the fourth quarter, Wright was faced with a huge loss. With 9:06 left in the game, their leading scorer Castro went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury. After this injury, the Lady Rams looked inspired to win the game for their injured teammate and immediately forced two turnovers. Unfortunately, neither led to points.
After Lake County’s 12 points to start the fourth, they were held scoreless for more than five minutes. During this scoring drought, the Lady Rams were able to chip away at their opponent's lead, and only trailed 46-37 with three minutes to go in the fourth.
During the last three minutes of the game, the Lady Rams were swarming the opposing players on defense, creating turnovers and converting these opportunities on the offensive side.
The Lady Rams crawled their way back out of the hole they were in, and had a chance to take the lead, but missed a contested 3-pointer as time ran out and lost the season opener by a final score of 53-50.
Despite the loss, Smith was extremely pleased with the fight and effort that her girls were able to show until the last whistle. “They were able to cut down a 10-point lead with under three minutes left to just three points, that is what it means to be a Lady Ram; to play hard to the very end," she said. "With the adjustments we made moving to the next game, we will be ready.”
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