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Lakeview avenges earlier loss to Howland

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Ettinger Cammie Becker of Lakeview drops a pass down to Lindsay Carnahan on the baseline as Samarra Caffey (21) and Sara Price of Howland defend Wednesday night in Cortland.

CORTLAND — Lakeview girls basketball coach Jason Senedak didn’t have much time to get the Bulldogs ready for the season and was tasked with taking on rival Howland in the season opener. It didn’t turn out well.

The second matchup between the two was an opportunity for the Bulldogs to show just how far they’ve come, which was a pretty fair distance given a 56-44 victory over the visiting Tigers, but there’s still a ways to go, as well.

“Game 1, we had been together officially for about a month of practice,” Senedak said. “We had to put in a lot. It was a whole new system, offensively and defensively, for the girls to learn. We lost (to Howland) by four points. In all honesty, I said in the locker room we’re nowhere near our full potential. It was a great game. We did well. But we’re nowhere near our potential. The girls started to believe it today.”

“I told the girls before the game (Lakeview) had gotten better and we would see who improved the most,” Howland coach John Diehl said. “(Lindsay) Carnahan did a much better job than she did earlier in the year.”

The Bulldogs (9-6, 5-3 in All-American Conference) were 9 of 10 from the charity stripe after the Tigers (12-4, 7-1) knotted the score at 42-42 with 3:17 to play in the fourth period.

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Ettinger Amber Rodriguez of Howland takes a shot over the defense of Madison Meeker (11) and Beady Titus (24) of Lakeview

“The other day in practice, we missed too many,” Senedak said. “I made them run for every single miss. We really focused on that.”

Lakeview used a 14-2 run to close the game. Carnahan scored on a pair of drives to the hoop and added a pair of free throws, Annie Pavlansky hit four free throws, Madison Meeker had two free throws and Jensen Silbaugh drove for her own bucket in those final few minutes.

“The biggest difference was our attitude and focus,” Senedak said. “Instead of getting more nervous when the game was tied, we became more focused on the task at hand. We do a lot of situational drills in practice. Free throws with a deficit, offense with a deficit and defense with a deficit. The girls have to climb out of a hole.

“Tonight was similar to a lot of those drills. They were calm under pressure and did the right things. At the end of the game, the kids were just in the right spots, more often than not. We just played good defense. We got our hands in passing lanes. We did what we needed to do. It wasn’t anything tricky. We just played good, honest defense.”

Howland had several chances at pulling close or knotting the score in the midst of the early part of the Bulldogs’ run, but no matter how far down the cylinder they put the ball, it made its way back out.

“There was a huge call down at our end where Izzy (Albrecht) was called for a foul,” Diehl said. “I think it was 42-42 at the time and she was called for going over the back. I think that changed the momentum, though one play or one call will never affect a game like this. That was a big possession and we came up empty.

“Hartzell had a three that bounced around, Maze had a drive that bounced in and out and Sara had a three I thought was good and it bounced around,” Diehl said. “We just missed. Give credit to (Lakeview). They hit the shots they needed to. Those shots rattled in and out. If they go in, we win in the end or it’s a lot closer at the end. We were 7 of 11 (from the line). You’ve got to take that. But they were 15 of 20 and we were the taller team.”

Howland led, 20-19, at the half and 35-34 to start the fourth quarter.

Pavlansky netted 20 points to pace the Bulldogs while Silbaugh had 13, Carnahan 12 and Meeker seven.

Price led the Tigers with 18 points and Kayla Clark added nine.

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