Pictured above: Cadie Lewis
The Dunmore Lady Bucks settled into a familiar place Thursday night.
Cadie Lewis poured in 26 points and seven 3-pointers to help the nine-time defending champions bypass visiting Riverside into the Lackawanna League Division 3 girls basketball lead with a 65-36, home-court rout.
Lewis showed off her shooting prowess prior to the season by winning the girls title of the 3-Point Contest during the Coaches vs. Cancer Media Day at Riverfront Sports in Scranton.
Despite those credentials as a shooter, Lewis is more often recognized for her defense, playmaking and teamwork.
With Dunmore faced with its latest injury scare, Lewis took over the scoring burden in the team’s 50th straight regular-season victory in the division.
The Lady Bucks have played all but three minutes of this season without three-time, all-stater Ciera Toomey as the University of North Carolina commit works her way back from a major knee injury suffered in last season’s playoffs.
Sophia Talutto, a returning all-star and the team’s leading scorer this season, left Thursday’s game in the first quarter with an apparent leg injury and did not return.
Riverside, which finished in sole possession of second place in the division the last three seasons and in a tie the year before that, entered the game between the division’s last two unbeatens with a half-game lead on Dunmore.
Talutto scored the game’s first seven points, capped by a three-point play just over two minutes into the game.
The Lady Bucks were in front 15-2 when Talutto took a hit to her legs on a drive to the basket, fell hard and eventually had to be helped off the floor. She received medical attention throughout the remainder of the first half and sat on the team bench in the second half.
Lewis gathered the team as it returned to the court and made sure the Lady Bucks kept rolling.
Dunmore led 20-2 after one quarter with the help of five points from Amanda Dempsey.
The Lady Bucks held the Lady Vikes without a field goal for more than 13 minutes to start the game. They led 25-2 before Lillie Pon’s three-point play for Riverside with 2:53 left in the half.
Lewis had five second-quarter points to make sure Dunmore added to its lead, reaching the half up 35-7.
The Lady Bucks kept going with Lewis leading the way.
Lewis hit her next four 3-pointers and added a three-point play for a 15-point third quarter and Dunmore went to the fourth leading, 55-26.
Dempsey finished with 11 points.
Dunmore improved to 3-0 in the division. The Lady Bucks, the top-ranked Small School girls team in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings of District 2 teams, improved to 9-2 overall.
Lillie Pon scored 15 points to lead Riverside, which dropped to 3-1 and 6-6.
