The Sports Connection Lady Lions quick start keys conference win

The Manila Lady Lions have a deep, talented roster and they surged to what proved to be an insurmountable first quarter lead on their way to a 66-40 win over Harrisburg Lady Hornets.

Tuesday, Jan. 21, Harrisburg (12-7, 4-4) was limited to just six available players, while the 3A-3 leading Lady Lion squad substituted freely without a significant drop off in talent.

“Manila is a tough matchup for anybody,” admitted Harrisburg head coach Tyler Riddle. “Look, they’re good all over the floor. Skilled, athletic, fast; they have size on the in-side.

“When you’re down one (player) on a small roster, it makes it that much more difficult to play them,” he added.

The Lady Lions (18-5, 8-0) placed nine players in the scoring column and more significantly rolled out a suffocating defense that collected 17 steals and forced 11 turnovers. Five of the 17 steals and six of the turnovers came in the first quarter when the host team built a 24-5 lead.

“We have nights and moments where we play really, really well,” explained Manila head coach Chad LaRose of the first quarter outburst. “When we’re rolling like that (defensively), we can get out and go and get some easy buckets in transition.”

Manila, winners of six in a row, raced to an early 7-0 before Harrisburg clawed back in the game behind a three by Elisabeth Green and a put back by Cassie Carlson.  A basket by Manila’s Madysen Deeds was sandwiched in between but the visitors had trimmed the lead to 9-5 with a little more than four minutes left in the quarter.

However, Manila kick started its effort once again and ran off the final 15 points of the quarter when Bailey Wilson canned three treys in the final 1:10 of the quarter to stretch the lead to that 19-point margin.

“Most definitely,” replied LaRose when asked about the significant depth of his team. “(Bailey) comes off the bench and does that, but that’s not uncommon for her at all. She’s just a good shooter.

“We have a lot of girls coming off the bench that could be starters at other schools,” he continued, “but they accept their roles. They all deserve minutes and I do my best to give them to them. When we’re rolling and I look up to see there’s just a minute left in the quarter, I feel like I need to get as many in the game as I can.” Regardless of the rotation, the Lady Lions continued to excel leading 39-15 at the break. By half’s end, Manila’s defense had posted 10 steals, forced seven turnovers and held Harrisburg scoreless for nearly eight minutes over the first and second quarters.

“Yep, yep we talked to them at halftime, and told our girls to try to win a possession; a few in a row, try to win a quarter,” said Riddle of his team’s second half strategy. “Our whole thing is focus on what we can control.

“Manila presses, they pressure,” he added. “Ball security is super important against a team like that and you have to take care of it. That determines how your offense is going to flow. Later on in the game we got used to it a little bit. That helped us out and we were able to get a few things going on the offensive end.”

Riddle was correct in his assessment as his squad played within two points of the Lady Lions in the second half but the first quarter deficit was too much to overcome.

Manila was difficult to contend with as six players scored at least five points with Farmer leading the way with 16 and Wilson tallying 15 points.

“It’s hard for teams to scout us,” commented LaRose. “If our opponent wants to stop Player A, then there’s Player B. We roll people right in and I don’t feel like we miss a beat.”

No matter the lineup, the Lady Lions continued to grow their lead. They pushed their advantage to as many as 31 points at 55-24 when Kaylynn Harvey scored in the paint off an assist from Wilson in the waning minutes of the third period.

It was one of 15 assists on 26 made baskets for Manila with Jenna LaRose’s six tops for the team.

“Yeah, we share the basketball sometimes too much,” said a grinning Coach LaRose, “but I am very thankful to have girls like this. They’re very, very unselfish.”

In addition to her 16 points, Farmer grabbed four rebounds and collected four steals. Wilson dished out three assists to go with her point total, while Madysen Deeds scored seven and Addison Stabbs contributed six points and four rebounds. LaRose, the coach’s daughter, had an all-around performance with six points, the six assists, four rebounds and three steals. Madison Tune didn’t light up the scoreboard but aided in the team’s effort with a team-high seven rebounds, plus five assists.

Harrisburg’s Elisa Green posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Additionally, she had three assists and two blocks. Cassie Carlson also scored 10 and grabbed seven rebounds. Ragan Fahr chipped in eight points and Hannah Mross seven.

Having run through the first half of the conference schedule unscathed, Manila has its sights set on a perfect league record.

“I’m not taking anything away from any team, any coach in this conference,” said LaRose of the league opponents. “Ronnie (Dye), Tyler (Riddle), they always have their teams ready. It’s never easy to win, but we work hard and I think it shows on the court.

“I told someone the other day we had a hiccup at Osceola and hiccup at Corning,” he continued of losses the previous two years which prevented that undefeated league mark. “Coming into the grind part of the season, we want to finish perfect. We’re trying to not have that let-down. The goal is 12-0 in conference.”