The photos used in this article were provided courtesy of Casey Harrington.
Safe to say this win was needed.
Haley Kirisits dropped a team-best 16 points as Lancaster topped Kenmore West, 54-40, in non-league basketball action that was played at the Kenmore West Athletic Complex, Tuesday night.
It was a much needed “W” for the Legends who entered the game with an overall record of 1-7.
“I feel like that as a team we knew that we needed to get it in our heads that we had to play our best,” Kirisits said. “We know we’re 1-7. We had to put forth our best effort and work our hardest.”
Legends head coach Jayson Jaskier said the win was a morale boost for his young team that has been giving maximum effort, but haven’t been seeing the tangible reward of a mark in the win column.
“They have been working hard all the way through and they haven’t missed by much on a few of them,” Jaskier said. “And even if the scoreboard indicates a little bit more it typically comes down to a handful of plays here and there that we’re starting to clean up and we’re starting to execute a lot more.”
Kirisits said that with being a young team it’s about mastering that ability to close out tight games.
“I feel like today was a really big confidence booster,” said Kirisits, who also had six rebounds and three steals. “We really needed a win.”
Lancaster opened with an 11-0 run and never really looked back.
They out-worked and out-hustled the Lady Blue Devils at every turn.
Most importantly they cleaned up the smaller aspects of their game that, in previous outings, have been the difference between a win and a loss.
Photo provided by Casey Harrington.
Lancaster has scored double digits in five of their last eight quarters. Against Ken-West they were 10-of-16 from the line and drastically cut down on turnovers compared to previous games.
“With a young team like this a lot of times it’s not so much the skill, it’s the decision making. The speed of the game. They’re becoming more accustomed to it,” Jaskier said. “We learn something from every game and it seems like we’ve cleaned that up for the next game.. and then we learn something else we need to work on. We’re starting to correct those mistakes and consistently improve and not make them any more.”
Ashley Tucker’s game-high 23 points was one of the few bright spots for the Lady Blue Devils who had been playing well the majority of the season, but were unable to put it all together today.
Head coach Jeff Martin said the way his team responds will say a lot about their character.
“We weren’t clicking,” Martin said. “The second quarter was great. We played a very strong second quarter. Other than that, there were spurts, but it wasn’t a full game like we’re used to.”
Michaela Morgus had six points and eight rebounds for Lancaster.
The Legends travel to West Seneca West on Wednesday night, 6:30pm tip-off.
Ken-West will be off until Friday when they host Lewiston-Porter.
