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Lakeshore girls complete unbeaten season with win over Brawley
Bruce Matlock
Brawley Middle School's Maddie Riley (21) tries to defend as Lakeshore Middle School's Rachel Valocchi (12) eyes the net.
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Published: February 8, 2010
TROUTMAN - Taylor Stamm's lay-up danced around the rim and settled on the back iron, not moving for a good two seconds before dropping through the net.
After a first half in which Lakeshore Middle made just two field goals, everything went right in the third quarter.
Stamm's scoring outburst sparked the Lakers, who won Monday's Iredell-Statesville Schools tournament championship 31-15 over Brawley Middle to complete a perfect 14-0 season.
"Taylor has always been an asset," Lakers coach Sherry Cash said. "But we have a lot of good players, so someone different may show up on any given night. The last three or four games, she's really stepped it up."
It was sorely needed too as Lakeshore played nearly flawless defense early, but entered halftime deadlocked 7-7 with the Braves (9-5).
But during a one-minute span in the third quarter, the Lakers scored more points than it did the entire first half.
It started with Stamm making back-to-back layups in about 15 seconds.
Then Lakeshore forced another turnover with its full-court press and Nicole Marshall scored. Seconds later, Rachel Valocchi stole the ball and connected on a lay-up to make it 15-7 Lakers.
"It was an even ballgame with 12 minutes to go, so we were pleased with that," Braves coach Donna Robertson said. "But Lakeshore has a very strong team and we knew that going in. They threw a lot of defensive pressure at us that we weren't prepared for."
The biggest issue for the Braves was Lakeshore's aggressiveness. The Lakers lined up in a 2-3 zone when Brawley brought the ball down the court.
As soon as the Brave ballhandler crossed halfcourt, the top two defenders would rush to the ball and trap. The three defenders down low would then slide up to fill in the gaps, making it very difficult to find an open teammate.
"We put that in a few games ago, but Brawley had never seen it," Cash said. "Our kids enjoy it and they bought into it. When kids buy into something, it makes you as a coach look good. They did a great job with it."
After Lakeshore started the third quarter on an 8-0 run, Brawley's Amber Dawkins connected on a field goal to halt the run. The Lakers, though, then ended the quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 26-9 after three.
Stamm's 10 points led the Lakers and Valocchi added seven points.
Dawkins led Brawley with four points, and five others scored two.
"We've got five seventh-graders playing varsity right now," Robertson said. "So hopefully we can use that experience to try and prepare for next season."
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