Lancers Hang-in tough against The Sting
A late fourth quarter run of five unanswered points proves to be enough, as the Loyalist Lancers hang on to a hard fought victory over the Seneca Sting on Friday, Jan. 26.
The Lancers, up 42 – 29 at one point in the third-quarter appeared to be well on their way to victory. However the Sting, gritty as ever refused to concede defeat and clawed their way back as the fourth-quarter drew on.
“We battled back trying to take it at the end, but their coach hung on, and their kids made some nice plays. They took the win from us,” said the Sting’s head coach, Craig Walker.
“We have a lot of clutch people, they work very hard, they’re ready for that kind of pressure,” said Alex Cleave, Guard for the Lancers.
The Sting, in contrast to the Lancers are a fast moving team who prefer to shoot from the outside, while the Lancers like to use their size and strength and grind it out under the net, fighting for rebounds and hoping to draw fouls.
“Seneca has some great outside shooting, they’ve got some great shooters, they have four girls who are over 25% from behind the 3 point line,” says the head coach for the Lancers James McCourt. “We lead the league in getting to the line for free-throws, we also lead the league for most free-throws per game and most free-throws made per game. That’s a big plus for us, we like to attack the basket and we like to try to get to the line.”
Another key to the Lancer’s victory was capitalizing off of some sloppy play by Seneca, scoring 28 points off of Sting turnovers.
“I thought our kids lost their heads a little bit. Their coach forced some turnovers on us, and found a way to get a lead on us,” said Walker.
In this hard fought game the Sting and the Lancers were tied four times, and exchanged the lead three times.
“We found ourselves with the lead in the first half and then the coach battled his way back and they got a lead on us,” said Walker.
Loyalist, a team more adept at “playing in the paint”, did not shy away from taking their shots from the perimeter. Using the Sting’s own strategy against them, the Lancer’s outscored the Sting from three-point territory nine to three.
As the differing offensive approaches played out, the score cards told the story. The three point shooting of the Sting was a dismal 1 for 13 or 7.7 per cent, while the strategy to grinding it out in the paint led to seven different Lancer’s shooting from the free throw line, adding 14 points with a very respectable 70 per cent success rate.
“On the road sometimes you have those off shooting nights, and they don’t fall as well as you want it,” said Walker about the Stings’ shooting woes.
Along with outscoring the Sting, the Lancers offense boasted a much more diversified attack. Four different Lancers scored nine or more points, while half of the Sting’s offensive production came from just two players.
This all important win gives the Lancers 12 points in the standings and a record of 6-3, which is good enough for a third-place tie with Seneca, who also has 12 points and a record of 6-4.
The Lancers will now put their two-game winning streak on the line as they move on to face the Vikings of St. Lawrence College, in Kingston Ont. on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 6pm. The Vikings with a record of 5-5 and 10 points are tied with George Brown for fourth, only two points behind the Lancers.
