Girls Basketball dominates, sets season scoring high in city playoff opener
Lane’s Logan Kane attempts a shot.
January 26, 2022
After one of Lane’s star players, Anastasia Lamperis, suffered a season-ending injury in a loss to Resurrection on Saturday, fans wondered about Lane’s longevity in the postseason.
“She’s a big component on this team,” Lane’s Head Coach Megan Molloy said postgame. “She offers us a lot of our offense, and our offense kind of goes through Anastasia. We are sad for her. We want her to finish out her senior year because she deserves it.”
But that didn’t stop Lane (8-12, 3-5 conference) from opening the city playoffs in strong fashion, beating the South Shore International Tars (4-12, 0-10) 74-19 in the first round of playoffs.
The game was in Lane’s favor from the moment it started with Lane keeping South Shore almost completely scoreless in the first quarter and forcing multiple turnovers. Molloy said that this sparked momentum for the team.
“You know, that’s not something we get to do very often,” Molloy said. “So I think they had a lot of confidence.”
By the end of the first quarter, the Tars only made one shot while Lane scored 27 points.
Throughout the second quarter, Lane’s score continued to rise but South Shore began to gain a little momentum capitalizing on Lane’s mistakes. Consistent three-pointers from the Tars’ senior captain, Fatimat Jinadu, and freshman Brooklynn Kendricks jump started their offense.
What was consistent for Lane was their chemistry, with stellar passes leading to baskets. They stayed on top of South Shore defensively as well, intercepting passes throughout the game.
“We did a really good job of staying aggressive on defense and then trapping and anticipating their passes in order to get more seals and just getting down the court before them and setting up before they could set up,” Lane’s Hope Johnson said postgame.
However, Molloy did give credit to South Shore for their offense.
“[South Shore] wasn’t the best defensively — that obviously helps us on offense — but they did run what they were supposed to run,” Molloy said. “They did run our offenses back and they were rewarded by being in the right place in the room.”
The most impressive individual feat of the night was South Shore’s near half-court buzzer-beater, ending the second quarter in an eruption of cheers from both sides, but it was not counted, and Lane took a 37-14 into halftime.
The second half proved to be instrumental for Lane’s defense, holding the Tars to just 5 points. The game quickly ended for South Shore while Lane used the second half to score a season-high 74 points.
“We need to be a lot more disciplined and we need to be able to adapt,” Molloy said. “This team didn’t really challenge us with different defenses that Simeon is going to throw a lot of things at us and the girls need to be able to read that and be able to respond.”
Lane’s Mimi Rector scored 19 points, capitalizing on fast breaks to drive the ball up the court. She said the rhythm Lane created is what helped them win.
“Usually it being a closer game or where we’re down more, it’s just a different perspective,” Rector said.
Lane moves on to the second round of the city playoffs where they will play at Simeon on Thursday, Jan. 27, at 5 p.m.
Megan Camacho contributed reporting.
