By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
WILKES-BARRE – Ella Wilson’s offensive game heated up just as the Lake-Lehman defense was stopping Holy Redeemer cold.
After being held scoreless for nearly 12½ minutes to begin the game, Wilson finished with a game-high 18 points as defending champion Lake-Lehman tightened the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 girls basketball race with a 59-50 win at Holy Redeemer
Wilson scored her first 10 points during a 20-3 run in which the Lady Knights held the Lady Royals without a field goal for 7:47 between the middles of the second and third quarters.
Lake-Lehman’s defense hurt Holy Redeemer in two different ways after the Lady Royals took a 19-14 lead 5:05 before halftime on a 3-for-4 start from long range – two banked-in wing shots by Paige Kroptavich, the second of which came less than a minute after Meghan Albrecht connected from the top of the key.
Once in front, Lake-Lehman became more aggressive, slapping on a press that helped create the game’s biggest lead, 43-27, with 1:50 left in the third quarter.
The closest the Lady Royals could get after that was within seven points early in the fourth quarter.
The game matched the teams battling for the WVC Division 2 title that Lake-Lehman won a year ago, as well as the teams chasing Dunmore in the seeding race in District 2 Class 3A.
Lake-Lehman, the No. 2 Small School girls team in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings of District 2 teams, improved to 6-1 in the division and 12-4 overall. No. 3 Holy Redeemer is still a half-game in front in the division at 7-1 and 10-8.
The Lady Knights got there by giving Wilson plenty of help.
Brenna Hunt added 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals before needing to be helped off the floor when she suffered an apparent leg injury in the final minute.
Hailey Kline had 14 points and 16 rebounds, leading Lake-Lehman to a 41-21 dominance on the boards. The Lady Knights had six offensive rebounds before a Holy Redeemer player cleared a defensive rebound for the first time and retrieved two-thirds of their misses throughout the game.
Lia Keefe turned in a well-rounded game of seven points, seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots.
Holy Redeemer was led by Meghan Albrecht with 11 points.
Angelina Corridoni had five assists coming off the bench and Mia Ashton had four steals.
There were seven lead changes and a tie in the first 10 minutes.
The back-to-back 3-pointers by Albrecht and Kroptavich created the seventh lead change and biggest lead to that point.
The cutting and interior passing that led to Lake-Lehman shooting 50 percent over the final three quarters began to show up in the game-changing run.
Keefe set up Kline to get it started.
Wilson and Holy Redeemer’s Ashton each made one of two free throws to make it 20-17.
Lake-Lehman then scored the last 11 points of the second quarter and first two of the third for a 30-20 lead.
Wilson tied the game with a 3-pointer and Keefe put Lake-Lehman ahead to stay with two free throws off a steal.
After Wilson added two free throws, Hunt scored the next six points to complete the streak of 13 in a row.
Albrecht hit two free throws, but Holy Redeemer continued to search for a basket as Keefe twice found Wilson for close-range baskets and a 34-22 lead.
Ashton’s basket while being fouled with 5:18 left in the third was the first since Kroptavich’s 3-pointer with 5:05 remaining in the half.
Holy Redeemer made one run at Lake-Lehman with the last four points of the third quarter and first five of the fourth to get within 43-36.
The Lady Royals kept the margin between 7 and 10 until 2:02.
Wilson, who struggled early on perimeter shots that would not fall, adjusted and made her last five shots by getting open closer to the basket. Hunt found her cutting for the three-point play that finally broke Holy Redeemer, then Kline and Hunt added two free throws each for a 57-42 lead.
