By Mike Frank
Examiner Sports Writer
It was a certified victory with lots of tension.
Indian Lake battled its way to a 48-45 win over Marion Harding in nonleague girls basketball play on Monday at home.
The Lady Lakers have won four in a row and are now 9-4 on the season.
Harding built a lead through the first period and maintained it in a low-scoring second to lead by five at the break.
But Indian Lake found its rhythm at both ends in the second half. They scored 16 in the third quarter, matching the total for the first two periods. They stayed just in front through the fourth to get the victory.
“We decided to change things up a little bit on the defensive side,” said Indian Lake coach Yasmyn Inskeep. “What we always talk about is our defense leads to our offense.”
She added that, “We made adjustments on the offense to try to get the ball in the high post, and get a high-low look and pound it on the inside. That opened things up for our guards, which was really beneficial for us.”
Carly Strayer led Indian Lake with 14 points, and Rya Pequignot had 11, with eight by Mackenzie Dixon.
For Harding (5-6), Aniya Mitchell had 18 points. Karee Whitaker added seven.
After Harding scoring to open the contest, a pair of free throws by Strayer and a three-pointer by Alivia Kinney got Indian Lake a 5-2 lead.
Three scores in quick succession by Harding came due to pressure forcing turnovers and stops. After a score by Strayer, Mitchell answered with a three for the Presidents near the midpoint of the quarter.
There was plenty of back and forth over the next few minutes, but only a free throw for each side in the scoring department.
With 2:03 to play, Altstaetter drew a whistle. She hit the first free throw. Harding committed lane violations twice on the second shot attempt. The third time was the charm for Altstaetter, spinning around and through.
A layup and a jumper by Mitchell gave Harding a 16-10 advantage heading to the second.
Another score by Whitaker pushed that lead to eight for the visitors. After a couple free throws by Pequignot, Dixon hit a shot with 4:35 to go for the first field goal in about seven and a half minutes of game action.
Kinney would set up a score by Strayer late in the half. With just 11 points total in the period, Harding took a 21-16 lead into the break.
A putback by Altstaetter on the opening possession was followed by a trey in the corner by Altstaetter, tying the game.
Harding pulled ahead by four, but scores from Strayer and Pequignot evened it again and led to a Harding timeout with 2:20 to go. Pequignot had another 1-hand drive to put the Lakers ahead for the first time since the early stages.
The pace and the scoring continued to fly along. Pequignot nailed a three-pointer at the third-quarter horn for a 32-30 edge.
Indian Lake nurtured that small lead through the first few minutes of the fourth quarter. A steal and score by Mitchell was followed by a three from Kailyn Simmons made it 39-37 Harding.
Strayer made consecutive shots at the other end to regain the lead. Harding had a chance to tie with 3:50 left, but Rahnya Brownridge only made one of two free throws. Whitaker then fouled out with two minutes still left.
A bank shot and two free throws by Dixon got the cushion back up to five with just under 90 seconds to go.
Indian Lake got one more by Dixon and two by Strayer in the home stretch to keep ahead. They made 15 of 22 in the game, and six of eight in the fourth.
“One thing we work on every day in practice is foul shots,” said Inskeep. “We talk about how you have to make your foul shots because you never know late in the game how that’s going to play out four you. That’s one thing these girls do really really well.”
In the junior varsity contest, Indian Lake won 32-22. Getting 10 points apiece were Haley Metzger and Terra Beltz.
Indian Lake (4-1 Central Buckeye Conference, 9-4) will host Kenton Ridge on Wednesday and Shawnee on Saturday. Game time Wednesday is 6 p.m. for the junior varsity.
Saturday’s game will be one half of JV play at 2 p.m., followed by varsity at 3.
Score by quarters
Presidents 16. 5. 9. 15. — 45
Lakers 10. 6. 16. 16. — 48
HARDING
Kailyn Simmons 2 0-0 6; Aniya Mitchell 8 0-1 18; Taliyah Thomas 1 0-0 2; Raina Smith 0 0-0 0; Adley Haines 2 2-2 6; Jada Haynes 0 0-2 0; Rahnya Brownridge 0 4-6 4; Karee Whitaker 3 1-2 7; Leah Price 0 0-0 0; Shelby Durain 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 17 7-13 45.
Indian Lake
Alivia Kinney 2 0-0 5; Rya Pequignot 4 2-2 11; Carly Strayer 5 4-4 14; Courtney Altstaetter 1 3-6 5; Kennedy Schwaderer 1 2-4 5; Mackenzie Dixon 2 4-6 8; TOTALS 15 15-22 48.