MENTOR—Julia Camino and Lauren Snyder each scored 15 points to lead Kirtland to a 45-40 non-conference win at Lake Catholic on Monday.
The Hornets scored the first eight points of the game then had to rally back from a halftime deficit to beat the Cougars.
“Lake Catholic has a great coaching staff and girls that are fundamentally solid,” Kirtland coach Brittany Zele said. “This is a big win in my book.”
Snyder hit a 3-pointer and a field goal and Camino added a three as the Hornets reeled off their eight-point run early in the contest.
Thanks to a pair of Sophia Pecjak 3s, the Cougars then went on a 10-4 run to pull to within 12-10 and took their first lead off an Ali Hudik layup with 1:12 left in the half.
Lake Catholic took a 19-18 lead into the locker room.
“There was no fire tonight,” Zele said of the sluggish first half. “Someone would make a shot or get a rebound and there wasn’t a lot of emotion coming from the team. I’m all about the hype and energy. That’s why I wanted to stay in a trapping zone to try and kick start that emotion by getting deflections and steals. Secondly, we went through the motions and opened the door for Lake Catholic to take advantage and they did. Luckily, we were finding our game in the fourth and made some good decisions and key free throws.”
Kirtland found some consistency in the third quarter as the Hornets outscored the Cougars, 14-7, to take a 32-26 lead into the final eight minutes.
Leah LaVerde, Camino and Snyder each hit a 3-pointer in the period.
Camino went on to score eight of her 15 in the final quarter to hold off the Cougars.
“Julia is extremely smart and was able to read the defense and attack their weak spots,” Zele said. “If we can get everyone to read and react like Julia did tonight, we will be in good standings come tournament time.”
The Hornets closed out the game 10-of-14 from the free throw line with Camino converting 4-of-4 tries in the fourth quarter and Snyder draining 3-of-6 in the final eight minutes.
“They were being senior leaders,” Zele said of Camino and Snyder. “They are captains for a reason. They may not always be vocal in their leadership but they came through big with their decision-making tonight. We didn’t have even scoring like we have had in previous games so they stepped up, especially Julia when we needed it.”
LaVerde finished with five points, Macy McIntosh added four and Amber Yurick contributed with two points for the Hornets.
Hudik led the Cougars with nine points and Pecjak and Gina Grandini both finished with eight.
