Lake Orion hands Adams first league loss

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

ROCHESTER HILLS — With three starters out for the year with injuries, Lake Orion has had to make wholesale changes to its lineup to try to remain in contention in the OAA White Division girls basketball race.

The patchwork lineup was just the Band-Aid the doctor ordered, at least Thursday night.

Lake Orion climbed back into the thick of the race by handing host Rochester Adams its first loss of the season, outscoring the Highlanders 25-22 in the second half to post a 43-42 league victory.

“We definitely want to compete and we want to compete for a (league) championship, so this was a must-win game for us,” offered Lake Orion coach Steve Roberts. “We talked about it before the game. Adams hadn’t lost a game yet but they had some close calls. Our league has a lot of parity this year and on any given night any team can win.”

OVER THE TOP: Lake Orion's Marisa Secontine shoots over Rochester Adams' Lexi Lewandowski during Thursday's OAA White Division clash. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

Senior forward Laura Turnball scored 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor to go along with five steals to lead Lake Orion. Senior forward Marisa Secontine added 11 points with six rebounds, three blocked shots, three assists and two steals, while freshman Nicole Krier chipped in with five points and four assists for the Dragons (7-4, 4-2).

But Lake Orion did it with defense, forcing the Highlanders into 24 turnovers, 14 in the second half.

Adams opened up the third quarter with a 9-2 run to build a 29-20 advantage with 5:08 left in the third period. The Highlanders did not score again in the period.

Lake Orion responded with 10-0 run to end the third quarter and used a 17-2 run which started with 4:27 left in the third until there was 5:08 remaining in the fourth quarter that gave the Dragons a 37-31 lead.

Adams rallied back to tie the game at 37-37 with 1:56 left to go on a pair of free throws by sophomore Jenny Rosonke. Turnball converted a three-point play and the Dragons made 4-for-5 free throws in the final 1:50 to hold off the Highlanders

PUSHING THE PACE: Lake Orion's Nicole Krier dribbles the ball up court past Rochester Adams' Lauren Boyle during the Dragons' 43-42 upset Thursday night. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

“We were down two games in the loss column against their no losses,” added Roberts, whose team had close defeats to Farmington and Farmington Harrison earlier this month. “If we can win out and they can win out, then we’ll meet up again at our house for the championship game. Or we get some help from other teams and other teams beat Adams. There’s a couple of other teams not out of it yet. Farmington’s tough, Oxford only has two league losses. It just got a little tighter.”

Adams tried to widen the gap on the OAA White Division field but had its first real hiccup of the season. Adams finished the night a cold 15-for-43 shooting from the floor, converted 9-of-18 free throws and was just 1-for-14 from outside the 3-point arc, and that was from freshman Raiven Owusu as the final horn sounded that cut the final score down to one point.

“That will happen,” sighed Adams coach Fran Scislowicz on his team’s cold shooting night. “If we can play defense and rebound, we’ll at least compete. We did that. We gave ourselves an opportunity to steal (an inbound pass) at the end, we just couldn’t get that steal. We came close. How many odd bounces happened in the final 40 seconds or so? We didn’t actually get one more shot off until the last-second three.”

Defenses got the best of both teams in the first half. Adams was 7-for-25 from the floor and Lake Orion 8-for-19 from the field. Still, Adams never trailed in first half, going up 10-8 after the first quarter and 20-18 at the half.

Adams, which held a 28-21 edge on the boards, was paced by senior forward Lexi Lewandowski, who was perfect on the night by sinking all four free throw attempts and was 6-for-6 from the floor for 16 points.

Oruwsu added seven points and Rosonke followed with six points, five rebounds and four steals for the Highlanders. Freshman center Amber Jamison contributed seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots off the bench.

Adams led 10-8 after the first quarter. Lake Orion was held scoreless for the first 5:14 of the second quarter before closing the frame with a 10-4 run to make it a two-point game at the half.

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