The Lady Lions had a full slate of basketball this past week.  They played SES on Tuesday, Solomon in a make-up game of the Blue and Gold Classic from December, Thursday, and Sacred Heart on Friday.

Minneapolis played one of their best overall games of the season against the Lady Trojans.  The Lady Lions played strong through-out, hitting a season high eight three’s as a team.  Late in the third and early in the fourth SES made a run that Minneapolis could not match.  “We had some open looks during the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth that we could not convert on.  That would have kept us ahead of the them.  Defensively, I thought we struggled tonight, but offensively we played very well,” commented Coach Darrow.  The Lady Lions fell 53-59.

Thursday was the third place game of the December Blue and Gold Tournament.  The Lady Gorillas were the opponent for Minneapolis.  As well as the Lady Lions shot on Tuesday early, it would be expected that would continue…it did not.  Minneapolis had many, many open looks and could not get the ball to drop.  “We were executing offensively and getting the shots we wanted.  They just weren’t falling.  Our defense kept us in the lead in the first half,” stated Coach Darrow.  In the third quarter, the Lady Lions took a thirteen point lead and extended it to 18 before subbing late in the game.  The final tally was 47-35.

Back to back games are tough to play, but it is great preparation for Sub-State.  Both Minneapolis and Sacred Heart had played and won on Thursday.  It would be a matter of who mentally and physically recovered the fastest….and it wasn’t the Lady Lions.  The Lady Knights came out and blitzed Minneapolis from the beginning taking a 16-38 lead at half-time.  “We had a talk about winning each possession in the second half.   There wasn’t a 22 point play I could draw up.  I challenged them to compete and they responded,” commented Coach Darrow.  The second half was much better for the Lady Lions, forcing the Lady Knights into 18 turn-overs and playing even.  The final score was 34-59.

The Lady Lions will play Beloit on Monday and Republic County on Tuesday to wrap up the regular season.