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Dragons Rumble Past Thunder

Lake Placid's Raquel Myers and Lake Region's Jovanie Smith (11) fight for a rebound during the first quarter of Friday night's game.

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: December 2, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Led by balanced scoring and a tenacious zone defense, Lake Placid cruised past Lake Region 38-16 in girls basketball on Friday night.

The Green Dragons, who improved to 3-4, led by only six points at halftime, but outscored the Thunder by 10 points in the third period to put the game out of reach.

Leading the way for Lake Placid was sophomore forward Sierra Weaver, who pulled down nine rebounds and scored six of her game-high 10 points in the pivotal third-quarter run.

"I learned some new moves in practice, and that helped me a lot tonight," said Weaver. "We don't have a lot of girls on the team, but we have good team chemistry.

"We just have to work together and play hard and do our best."

Lake Placid, which beat Lake Region by only 10 points last week, started out slow, but used its quickness and speed to wear down the Thunder in the non-district contest.

"We missed a bunch of lay-ups in the first half, but then we started moving our feet, played some good defense and started making some shots in the second half," said Green Dragon coach Shonda Legree. "I was real pleased with our balanced scoring because that makes it hard to defend us.

"When we can get two or three girls in double figures and play defense, we're tough to beat."

Both teams came out ice cold from the floor to open the contest, but Weaver was able to score on the inside to give Lake Placid a 2-0 lead heading into the second stanza.

Point guard Kaneisha Hamilton, who had five rebounds and four steals, scored five of her 10 points as the Green Dragons took a 9-3 lead into the half, as Aleysia Miller connected on a 3-pointer for the Thunder.

Lake Region tried to employ a full-court press to open the second half, but Hamilton and guard Stacy Davis were able to break the pressure leading to easy baskets.

Center Shardesia Sholtz, who pulled down nine rebounds, was the beneficiary of several good passes and scored six of her eight points in the paint as the Dragons extended their lead to 28-12 heading into the final eight minutes.

"Shardesia has the ability to play inside or at the top of our offense," Legree said. "She has the speed and athletic talent to be a force, but she needs to apply herself a little more."

Ali Baker also had a strong game on the inside, and scored six points in the closing minutes as Lake Placid rolled to the easy win.

"I studied the game film and we worked on breaking the press during practice," Legree said. "The girls got in the right spots and we moved the ball around and got some good looks at the basket.

"We just need to keep working to get better because there is a lot of basketball left."

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