Lakers rebound after winning streak snapped

An article by Michael Shelton    No Comments

Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes won its Catholic League tournament opener after seeing its 10-game winning streak snapped earlier last week.

The Lakers defeated Detroit Cristo Rey handily, 53-14, at Detroit Jesuit in a Catholic League C-D Division tournament game on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Ava Doetsch and Lexie Robak each scored 12 points for the Lakers (14-2), while Lindsay Ross had 6 points and 12 rebounds. Carlee Cottrell had 5 points and 9 assists.

The Lakers will next take on Madison Heights Bishop Foley in a tournament semi-final game today, Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Novi Detroit Catholic Central.

The winner will face either Riverview Gabriel Richard or Marine City Cardinal Mooney in the Catholic League C-D Division championship game at Calihan Hall at University of Detroit Mercy on Saturday, Feb. 19.

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the Lakers hosted the defending Class B state champion, Dearborn Divine Child, and the game went to overtime before Our Lady fell, 47-41, and saw its 10-game winning streak snapped.

The score was tied at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter before Divine Child took a 19-18 lead at halftime and a 32-24 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“We played very sloppy and made several turnovers in the third quarter,” Lakers Head Coach Steve Robak said.

However, the Lakers fought back in the third quarter thanks to the strong play of Cottrell, who tied the game on a 3-pointer.

Our Lady had a 40-37 lead with 1 minute in the fourth before Divine Child got an offensive rebound and put-back to cut the lead to 1.

The Lakers then turned the ball over and Divine Child’s Rosanna Reynolds was fouled. She split two free-throws to tie the game at 40.

Our Lady could not get a final shot off on its last possession of regulation and overtime would be needed.

In the extra session, Our Lady was outscored 7-1 by Divine Child.

“We had several good looks down this stretch but none of our shooters were able to convert,” Coach Robak said.

Cottrell led Our Lady with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Doetsch had 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Lexie Robak scored 6 points.

On Monday, Feb. 6, the Lakers traveled to Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood and won, 52-33, to finish Catholic League East play at 8-0.

The Lakers had clinched the division title last week.

Cottrell led the Lakers with 16 points in the win over Cranbrook, while Tori Duffey had 14 points and Doetsch had 12 points and 6 assists.