Our Lady pounces on rival Marine City in 53-44 win

With the regular season halfway through, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes is showing that it means business, especially against its biggest rival.

The Lakers defeated Marine City Cardinal Mooney at home, 53-44, on Monday, Jan. 17 in a matchup of Detroit Catholic League East Division rivals, handing the Cardinals their first loss of the season.

The teams have met in the Catholic League C-D Division championship the last three seasons, with the Lakers winning the last two titles.

Last Monday’s game started slowly for both teams as the Lakers (9-1 overall, 4-1 in the Catholic League East) led 13-7 after the first quarter and 18-14 at halftime. However, Our Lady increased the lead to 34-26 at the end of the third and didn’t relinquish the lead in the fourth.

Lauren Robak led the Lakers with 31 points, including 14 points in the fourth quarter, along with 19 rebounds, 6 steals, 2 blocks and 2 assists.

“Lauren came ready to play for this game, which is a game we always have marked on the schedule, and played her best game this season and probably one of the best overall games of her career,” said Our Lady Head Coach Steve Robak. “She grabbed a ton of rebounds and did a lot of good things for us tonight.”

Ava Doetsch had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals for Our Lady, while Carlee Cottrell had 7 points and 4 assists.

Cardinal Mooney defeated Allen Park Cabrini, 55-41, on Thursday, Jan. 20 and now sits at 9-1 and is tied with Our Lady at 4-1 in the Catholic League East.

Our Lady then traveled to Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood on Saturday, Jan. 22 and came away with a 50-24 victory.

The Lakers got off to a slow start leading 8-4 at the end of the first quarter before increasing its lead to 26-13 at halftime.

“The game was close after one as we were very sluggish to begin the game,” Coach Robak said. “We had five players miss a total of 12 practices since the game with Mooney and they are still recovering from several illnesses.”

Our Lady then woke up in the second half, increasing its lead to 38-20 at the end of the third quarter and pulling away from there.

Cottrell led the Lakers with 16 points, including four 3-pointers, with 12 of her points coming in the first half.

Lauren Robak and Jessica Parry each had 9 points.

“With the addition of Carlee (a transfer) and Meghan (Topolewski) back in the rotation after her injury earlier this season, we are really deep and athletic,” Coach Robak said. “We’re working out some things with the player rotations right now and it will probably take a few more games before we know exactly what we want to do.”

Our Lady hosted Royal Oak Shrine on Monday, Jan. 24 after press time and will next welcome Allen Park Cabrini on Friday, Jan. 28, as the Lakers will look to avenge their only loss so far this season.

Cabrini defeated Our Lady, 47-33, on Jan. 10.

“The good news is that our players are doing such a good job that we have some tough decisions when it comes to playing time, but it’s a great problem to have right now,” Coach Robak said.