Lake clinches 3rd SLL title in a row

Lake's Kaysie Brittenham, left, and Carly Huston, right, battle for the basketball with Genoa's Julie Swartzmiller. Brittenham and Huston each scored 11 points to lead the Flyers to another SLL title.

Her struggles shooting the basketball didn't carry over into the game.

Cox, Lake's 5-foot-5 junior guard, had a tough time missing from behind the 3-point arc.

She matched her single-game record for 3-pointers made by sinking six en route to leading the Flyers to a 52-38 victory over the host Comets.

The victory clinched a third straight SLL championship for the Flyers, who also finished 12-0 in league for the third consecutive season.

"It's awesome, for three years in a row we have not lost a league game," said Lake coach Denny Meyer, whose team improved to 19-1 overall.

The Flyers made it clear they were going to defeat the Comets (10-2, 18-2) by scoring most of their points from behind the 3-point arc. They nailed 9 of 23 3-point attempts while only attempting 13 shots from two-point range, making good on seven of those shot attempts.

The Comets were 0-for-3 from 3-point range and 15 of 33 on two-point attempts.

Kaysie Brittenham and Carly Huston added 11 points apiece to help Lake's cause. Brittenham sank three 3-pointers, including two after halftime when the Flyers outscored the Comets 29-14.

Genoa, led by Alyssa Meis' 13 points, actually went into halftime with a 24-23 lead.

"It was a night of runs," Genoa coach Mike DeStazio said. "We kind of played even with them for two quarters and two minutes and then they made a run."

The Flyers outscored the Comets 15-6 during the third quarter, which included an 8-2 run to close out the period to give Lake a 38-30 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of action.

Brittenham nailed a 3-pointer to give Lake a 33-28 lead with 4:30 remaining in the quarter. Huston added a bucket off a Genoa turnover a few moments later to make it 35-28.

Cox drained her fourth 3-pointer of the night -- and second in the quarter -- to give the Flyers a 38-28 lead with 2:50 remaining.

A putback by Genoa's Bailee Adams with just over two minutes remaining ended a two-minute scoring drought for the Comets and made it 38-30.

Cox made four of her 3-pointers after halftime. With the Comets attempting to keep wraps on Brittenham, the league's leading scorer (19.3 ppg), it allowed for Cox to receive her share of wide-open looks from 3-point territory. She clearly made the most of the moment.

"In warmups I wasn't hitting anything," Cox said. "In the game, I just got the ball and shot it."

DeStazio credited Cox for meeting the challenge.

"It's not much you can say when a kid makes a couple of threes," DeStazio said. "It broke our back.

"I've got to give her credit. She was left open a little bit and she made it."

Jessica Feller added 12 points for Genoa, which suffered its two league losses against Lake.

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com or 419-724-6302