By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
LEHMAN TWP. – Ella Wilson played the second half like she had never missed a shot in the first half.
Lia Keefe played the fourth quarter and overtime as if she had not committed any fouls.
With Wilson and Keefe leading the way down the stretch Saturday afternoon, Lake-Lehman earned at least temporary bragging rights in a meeting of District 2’s top two Small School girls teams, knocking off visiting Dunmore, 51-40, in overtime in a non-league game that potentially could have been a preview of a District 2 Class 3A final.
Wilson scored a game-high 20 points and was the second-leading rebounder with 10. She got there by scoring 15 points and grabbing 8 rebounds after halftime.
The other four Lake-Lehman starters all had more points and rebounds than Keefe, who contributed 10 steals and 7 assists.
“Lia’s our catalyst out there, without a doubt,” Lake-Lehman coach Charlie Lavan said. “What she gives us defensively and taking care of the ball offensively is immeasurable.”
Keefe assisted on three of the four baskets when Lake-Lehman was outscoring Dunmore, 12-1, in overtime. She had five of the steals while playing the fourth quarter and overtime with four fouls.
“She played the fourth quarter, right through the end of the (overtime) and still got steals,” Lavan said. “That’s darn-good basketball.”
Keefe’s last steal and assist came in the last 10 seconds in a diving takeaway that she managed to still send ahead for a layup.
“She’s very aggressive,” Wilson said. “ … She’s always going for the ball.
“She has so many steals every game and then she’ll see me or Hailey (Kline) or Brenna (Hunt) running up the floor. She has great court vision, too.”
Hunt had 12 points and 8 rebounds while Kline had 6 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists.
Molly Jenkins had nine points and seven rebounds, scoring seven of the team’s first nine points.
That combination helped Lake-Lehman end Dunmore’s 87-game winning streak against District 2 Small Schools, dating back more than five years to a Lackawanna League Division 3 game against Holy Cross.
Lake-Lehman (14-4) closed a large gap to less than two-ten thousandths of a point behind Dunmore (13-3) in the complex ratings system used to determine District 2’s top seed.
The Lady Knights, winners of the last two Wyoming Valley Conference overall titles, extended their winning streak to nine games while halting Dunmore’s overall streak at eight.
The Lady Bucks, well on their way to a 10th straight Lackawanna Division 3 title, came into the game No. 1 among Small Schools in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings ahead of No. 2 Lake-8Lehman.
Dunmore’s only leads were 2-0 on a Tristan Canavan open layup on an in-bounds play, lasting from 6:02-5:50 in the first quarter, and 22-20 from 6:26 to 6:00 of the third quarter on a Canavan basket off an Amanda Dempsey rebound and feed.
Lake-Lehman led by as many as nine in the first half, six in the third quarter and five in the fourth quarter, but Dunmore kept coming back.
“The word I could use to describe my team today is ‘resilient’,” Lavan said. “We’d get a lead, give it a way; get a lead, stumble, give it away.
“We actually had about two or three opportunities to put the game away in regulation, but we just didn’t execute. But, we showed resilience and won it in overtime.”
Sophia Talutto, playing for the first time in more than two weeks after missing four full games and most of another with an ankle injury, led Dunmore with 18 points. Talutto made a tough 3-point shot from the top of the key, while defended and moving slightly to her left with a double-team on its way, with 21 seconds left to force overtime tied at 39-39.
Cadie Lewis added 11 points and 5 assists for the Lady Bucks.
Keefe broke the press to hit Jenkins for a three-point play to start an 11-0 run to an 11-2 led late in the first quarter.
The Lady Knights led 13-4 after one quarter, but Lewis hit two 3-pointers and Talutto made one in two minutes to begin the second half.
That pulled Dunmore to within 16-13 and the Lady Bucks closed to within 18-17 with 3:55 left in the second quarter.
There was no more scoring the rest of the half, including the 2:45 in which North Carolina commit Ciera Toomey made just her second appearance of the season to end the half. Toomey has played less than six minutes as she continues to rehabilitate from reconstructive knee surgery to repair an injury suffered in last season’s district final.
Wilson hit a 3-pointer and scored a three-point play and Keefe assisted two of the three baskets in an 8-0 run to a 28-22 Lake-Lehman lead midway through the third quarter.
The 6-foot sophomore acknowledges there have been times as a youngster when slow starts have shaken her confidence and led to more struggles. For the second time in a week in a big-game setting, she shook off missed shots, including three straight on 3-point attempts to end the first half.
“I’m getting a lot better at fighting it off and not letting it get to me,” Wilson said. “Especially at halftime, I take a minute to relax, think about what I’m doing and work on my shot if they’re not falling.
“I’ve been in a bad shooting slump lately.”
Wilson went 6-for-12 from the floor in the second half, including converting a rebound with 1:50 left for a 39-36 lead.
Neither team scored in the first minute of overtime until 6-2 center Kline left the paint long enough to set up in the left corner for the open shot she hit with her foot on the arc, putting the Lady Knights ahead to stay.
“Most people don’t know I have eleven 3-pointers,” Kline said. “I have confidence in my shot.”
From there, Wilson finished off Dunmore with literal and figurative assists from Keefe.
Keefe flipped a soft lob over traffic across the lane to Wilson just a few feet away for a 43-40 lead with 1:37 left.
Wilson ran the floor to get to a rebound in transition for a crushing, three-point play and a seven-point lead with 37.5 seconds left.
“I made sure to sprint up,” Wilson, who played all 37 minutes, said after thinking she had missed a similar opportunity earlier in overtime.
Keefe, twice, and Kline, once, added to the 12-1 overtime advantage by going 1-for-2 at the line with Dunmore forced to foul.
Pictured above: Ella Wilson takes a shot on her way to a game-high 20 points. (Tim Drewes Photo)
MORE COVERAGE
PHOTO GALLERY: Dunmore/Lake-Lehman girls basketball photo gallery – NEPA Sports Nation
