Mishawaka hangs on to defeat LaVille
LAKEVILLE — Coaches are fond of saying that there are three or four plays in the course of a game that decide the outcome. For LaVille’s Lady Lancers that translated to literally two more shots falling in a loss to Mishawaka.
“That’s kind of been our struggle at the start of the season right now,” said LaVille coach Nick Amor. “I don’t know the exact percentage but I’d say it’s close to 30 percent from everywhere on the floor. That’s the hill we have to overcome is our shooting.”
LaVille jumped to a 16-5 first-quarter lead riding defensive pressure and taking advantage of offensive opportunities and went to the locker room at halftime with a 22-16 lead.
The Lancer defense was stifling in the first half forcing eight Mishawaka turnovers and taking advantage of those to stretch their lead.
“We can hang our hat on every game,” said Amor of his team’s defensive effort. “You never have to worry if they are going to work hard. It’s a really good group of girls that just gets after it. I need to keep them engaged and positive on the offensive end.”
In the second half, LaVille went cold offensively and in spite of the defensive pressure Mishawaka found Kasha Davidovic time and again to bring them back into the game and finally take the win.
Davidovic ended the game with a double/double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. The Lady Lancers held her to just four points and five rebounds in the first half.
“Our game plan was to keep fronting the post and make it frustrating with pressure,” said Amor of his game plan to deal with Davidovic. “In the ball screens, we probably didn’t switch the way we could have. I think that’s where she found gaps.”
Not to be outdone, LaVille’s London Kwiatkowski had a double/double of her own with 12 points and 10 rebounds in spurring her team.
Brooke Edison backed her up with 10 points, four rebounds, and four steals. Even after running into some foul trouble Mikalah Kuskye had a big floor game with four points and, four rebounds to go with three steals and three assists.
“I feel good about us,” said Amor. “We are off to a little slow start from a record standpoint but we showed leaps and bounds of growth in this game. Especially the first half. I can’t tell you the last time we scored 20 points in the first half. We are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were to start the season. We need to keep riding that wave and we’ll see some wins out of it.”
LaVille will move to 2-5 on the season and will be on the road to take on Triton tonight with a 7:30 p.m. varsity tip-off.
•MISHAWAKA 41, LaVILLE 37
at Dale Cox Gymnasium
Laville 16 22 28
Mishawaka 5 16 31
LaVILLE (37) — Lily Smith 3 0-0 7, Deason 0 0-0 0, Weil 1 0-0 2, Edison 5 0-0 10, Kuskye 2 0-1 4, Aschenbrenner 0 0-0 0, Kwiatkowski 4 4-4 12, Schmidt 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 4-5 37.
MISHAWAKA (41) — R. Brugh 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Mammolenti 1 1-2 3, Matherly 1 0-0 2, A. Brugh 1 0-0 2, Davidovic 8 1-5 17, Shaffer 4 5-6 14. Totals 16 7-13 41.
3 Pt. FG — LaVille 1 (Smith), Mishawaka 2 (Shaffer, Shine).
Rebounds — LaVille 28 (Kwiatkowski 10), Mishawaka 31 (Davidovic 13).
Assists — LaVille 10 (Kuskye 3), Mishawaka 2 (Shaffer 2).
Steals — LaVille 9 (Edison 4), Mishawaka 4 (Shaffer 2).
Turnovers — LaVille 8, Mishawaka 14.
