The injury-riddled Pen High Laker junior girls basketball team thumped the Summerland Rockets 68-18 in Summerland Tuesday.
Jollee Perrier led the Lakers attack with 20 points and five steals. Annick Cole added 12 points and eight steals with Celine Francisco chipping in 10 points. The Lakers also benefited from Grade 9 player Emma Schneider, who coach Dustin Hyde received after approaching coaches Blair Haddrell and Bill Bidlake, since he only had seven players. Hyde said she mad an immediate impact collecting 10 points with five boards and five blocks.
"Great to have her come out in the absence of Lyndzie Caron who is a key player for us that is out with a broken wrist," said Hyde.
The Lakers didn't have a strong start, said Hyde, who credited the Rockets, for coming out hard and playing a physical style.
Over the weekend the Lakers went to Vernon for a eight-team tournament and won, downing the Vernon Secondary Panthers 42-29. Due to injuries, Hyde was forced to give players extra playing time. Kyra Wallace led the offence with 13 points. Francisco chipped in 11, while Cole had 10 to go with eight steals.
The Lakers advanced to the final after they defeated the Okanagan Mission Huskies 45-31. After trailing the entire first half, the Lakers were resilient and grabbed a comfortable lead in the final quarter. Cole scored 15 points to go with 10 boards and five steals, Cali Anderson had seven points to go with six boards and four steals. Olivia Tom was the rebound leading with eight. It was in this game that Caron was lost to injury.
The Lakers opened with a win over Salmon Arm. Caron led with 13 points, Cole with nine boards and 10 steals.
"We have been hit very hard this year with injuries and it has been very frustrating for both the players and myself as a coach," said Hyde. "We know that we are a top team in the province. At the moment we are sitting at 11th in the provincial rankings. While we are deserving of this ranking, I feel that we could be significantly higher if we would have been injury free. I have never had this many injuries in one season. In fact, I could take all my seasons coached, combine all the injuries ever accumulated and I am pretty sure it would be less than the amount we have acquired this season."
Hyde added that the injuries has resulted in opportunities for other players.