Rhoads leads West's bench; Gray sets record
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Saturday, February 23, 2008
HARRISON — Lakota West's Katie Rhoads made only one basket in Saturday's 44-35 district final win over Chaminade-Julienne.
The Firebirds were leading 32-31 when the senior buried a three pointer from the right wing to put West ahead 35-31 with four minutes and five seconds left in the game.
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"I said to her 'that's what makes you such a great player for us for the last three years is the fact that you never got down on yourself and you knew we had a gameplan, you weren't in the intial gameplan (on Saturday)," West coach Andy Fishman said. "But Katie knew when the game changed with our defense she would get her opportunity. It was all about her confident ball handling and position defense."
Rhoads three points helped West outscore the Eagles 17-3 off the bench.
"So many people want to talk about our great certain kids on our team are and they are great, but it's not their greatness that puts us where we are by winning this game. Our greatness is on our bench," Fishman said.
"Kids like Katie Rhoads who didn't even get in in the first half comes in and plays excellent position defense and then knocks down a three."
In addition to Rhoads, Tessa Elkins (2 points), Caitlin Dombart (6), Erica Almady (2) and Stacie Lee (4) all scored from the Firebirds bench.
Three in a row
West's win over C-J was the Firebirds third straight disrtict title, all under coach Fishman. It was the Firebirds 23rd postseason win since the Lakota school district divided into two high schools in 1997.
Two in the third
The Firebirds, who average 68.4 points per game, managed only two points in the third quarter on Saturday. The lone basket came on a Stacie Lee layup at the 1:02 mark in the third period.
"This is not a typical Lakota West girls basketball score," Fishman said. "Forty-four points, I felt like we needed to play the second half."
Gray breaks record
Saturday's game marked the 95th game for senior Amber Gray breaking the all-time district record for games played.
The McDonald's All-American started as a freshman and holds several Lakota West records. The previous record of 94 was held by Lakota's Brooke Wyckoff.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5116 or mburcham@coxohio.com.
