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Weekend critical for Lakers season

The Pen High Lakers senior girls basketball team plays three home games during weekend
Bball Pen Hi Laker Senior boys vs. Salmon Arm
KYLER PHILLIP of Pen High’s senior boys team

Discipline and confidence are two keys for the Pen High Lakers senior girls basketball team leading to three weekend matches.

On Friday, the Lakers welcome the South Kamloops Titans at 6 p.m., then Saturday they host the NorKam Saints at 11 a.m. and the Salmon Arm Jewels at 4 p.m. The Lakers are 5-4 after a 77-38 loss to the No. 4 ranked Kelowna Secondary Owls at home on Tuesday.

“We had spurts of some great play. We had a fantastic run for about four or five minutes in the fourth quarter,” said Lakers co-coach Dustin Hyde.

After starting well, Hyde said they didn’t play well for two quarters.

The Owls had a 18-8 lead after the opening quarter, then outscored the home team 23-6 in the second quarter for a 41-14 lead. In the second half, the Owls outscored the Lakers 36-24.

Being a young team, he said they lack discipline and confidence at times. The Owls, Hyde said, pressure the wing making it difficult to initiate any set play.

The Lakers offence did manage to score from three point range, but Hyde said most of those buckets were from broken plays and offensive rebounds. Other chances were created from openings.

“They are good, they play tough perimeter defence,” he said. “We just didn’t execute what we needed to do. The girls knew that KSS was going to be tough.”

Hyde said this weekend is big for the team. Depending on their results, they could climb as high as third in the league.

The Lakers senior boys also had a tough matchup with the Owls, losing 88-41. They got back in the win column against the Rutland Voodoo with a 61-55 win on the road.

The Valley quarter-finals for the senior girls is set for Feb.16 with the Valley championship on Feb. 19 to 20. Provincials are March 2-5. For the boys, the Valley championship is in Kelowna Feb. 24-25.