LIBERTY TWP. — Brooke Asher and most of the Lakota East High School girls basketball team weren’t feeling the best Wednesday night.
But that didn’t stop the Thunderhawks from picking up another Greater Miami Conference victory.
Asher scored a game-high 13 points, Bella Sturgill added 11 and the Lakota East girls basketball team defeated Middletown 39-30.
The Thunderhawks led 5-4 after one quarter and 18-12 at the halftime break. Lakota East used a 12-2 run to build its largest lead at 29-18 in the second half.
“The night was something,” said Asher, a senior guard. “I have a bit of an illness right now. I really don’t know what it is. But half of our team was kind of pretty much sick, so we’re all kind of fighting through little bit of illnesses. Everyone kind of has something different.”
Bailey Bacher chipped in with eight points and nine rebounds for the Thunderhawks, who played eight games in a little more than two weeks.
Lakota East moved to 4-4 overall and 3-0 in the Greater Miami Conference. Middletown, which beat Lakota West last week for the first time in school history, slipped to 3-4, 1-3 GMC.
Thunderhawks coach Dan Wallace said there was a primary focus on eliminating the inside presence of Middletown’s Jamia Jones, who pulled down a school-record 25 rebounds in the Lakota West victory.
“They’re so good on the boards,” Wallace said. “They go really hard at the glass. We took a game yesterday. We put purple shirts on a couple of kids. We say these purple shirts don’t get boards.”
Leila Johnson had team-highs of 11 points and nine rebounds for the Middies. Bre Gregory added six points, while Jones contributed five points and eight boards.
Middletown scored the first bucket of the game before Lakota East went on top and help control the rest of the way.
“To be honest with you, we’re like box of chocolates,” Middies coach Steven Roe said. “You never know which team you’re gonna get. We had that team beats Lakota West — historic win. Then the very next game, we’re struggling a little bit — not playing with the same level of energy and effort.
“When we first took this program over five years ago, the first principle we had to build was belief. Belief turned to confidence, the confidence we had to work on skill. So, that’s a totality of that process being able to beat that Lakota West team. Now it’s about how do you do it consistently? How do you take on the next team? So we rode it, and we’re playing better — just not enough to get quite over the hump.”
Middletown hosts Colerain on Saturday, while Lakota East travels to Hamilton next Wednesday.
Other area girls basketball results from Wednesday:
BADIN 56, MCNICHOLAS 49
Badin junior Hailey Weber calmly buried two foul shots with 24 seconds remaining and the host Rams knocked off McNicholas, 56-49, in GCL Coed Division girls prep basketball action at Badin’s Mulcahey Gym Wednesday night.
BHS senior Gracie Cosgrove notched her second 20-point game of the season — with seven points at crunch time in the final period — and junior Braelyn Even added 13 points for the winners as Badin improved to 4-2 overall, 2-1 in the league. McNicholas, which fell to 5-2 overall, 0-2 in the league, got 14 points apiece from senior Jordan Wheatley and sophomore Ali Strange in the setback.
Badin led 53-49 when Weber was intentionally fouled on an inbounds pass. Standing by herself at the foul line, she knocked down first one, then the next, as BHS rallied for a key league victory.
McNicholas scored the first eight points of the second quarter to lead, 22-11, but Badin was able to go into halftime trailing by just one, 27-26.
Then the Rams used a 9-0 fourth quarter run to grab a 51-42 lead with 3:30 showing, before it was McNicholas’s turn to cut into the margin. The Rockets got within four — and missed a foul shot that would have cut it to three — before Weber helped stem the tide.
TALAWANDA 50, NORTHWEST 13
Talawanda freshman Janna Cary was the standout, scoring 17 points and adding four rebounds. Layni Short also had a strong performance, finishing with 10 points, including 6 of 6 free throws.
Jaklyn Wynn contributed nine points for the Brave (3-2, 1-0 SWOC) off the bench, while Grace Richardson chipped in eight points and five assists.
LAKOTA WEST 47, HAMILTON 34
Katie Fox had 14, and Sydney Williams added 13 to lead the Firebirds (2-4, 2-2 GMC). Caroline Bayliff chipped in eight points, while Jayda Neilson contributed six points. secured the win.
Hamilton (1-4, 1-2 GMC) was led by Ah’Marionya Kirkland led the team with nine points, Amaginn Beamon added 10 and O’Marionya Kirkland seven.
MASON 54, FAIRFIELD 31
Mason (7-0, 4-0 GMC) had a balanced offensive attack, with Madison Parrish leading the way with 15 points. Taylor Stanfield added nine points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Anna Habra contributed nine points and six rebounds. Addy Gillman pitched in eight points.
Fairfield (0-4, 0-3 GMC) was led by Kobi Crim’s 12 points and six rebounds. Lexi Hayes contributed 10 points for the Indians, who shot 8 of 8 from the line.
CINCINNATI CHRISTIAN 52, ST. BERNARD 15
Cincinnati Christian led 13-2 after one quarter and 23-6 at the half before closing things out in the final two periods.
CCS outscored St. Bernard 18-0 in the fourth quarter. The Cougars (6-2, 4-1 MVC) sit atop the Miami Valley Conference.
BELLBROOK 50, MONROE 18
The Hornets (1-4, 0-3 SWBL) fell behind 22-2 after one quarter and couldn’t make much ground the rest of the way.
CHAMINADE JULIENNE 74, FENWICK 38
The Falcons slipped to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Greater Catholic League Coed.
SEVEN HILLS 44, NEW MIAMI 19
The Vikings (0-5, 0-3 MVC) fell behind 13-1 after the first quarter.
