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Fort Meade Muscles Past Lake Placid

CHRIS HOFFMAN/HIGHLANDS TODAY

Lake Placid’s Kaneisha Hamilton drives to the hoop over a Fort Meade defender on Monday during the Dragons’ loss at home.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: November 28, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Fort Meade's size was too much for the much smaller Lake Placid girls basketball team to handle on Monday night, as the Green Dragons fell 53-25 to the Miners in a non-district meeting.

Fort Meade's inside duo of forward Bette Morris and center Akaycla Robinson — both of whom check in at over six feet — pounded the Green Dragons and gobbled up most of the rebounds on both ends of the court, scoring on countless second-chance opportunities and leading their team to a 32-11 halftime lead.

And the Miners never looked back, as Morris and Robinson used their size and strength to muscle into position for easy baskets. Robinson finished with a game-high 12 points, while Morris had 10 points and small forward Iyisha Graham chipped in eight points in the win.

Lake Placid had no answer for those kinds of weapons and the a half-court press by the Miners forced the Lake Placid ball handlers to pick up their dribble past the timeline, causing numerous turnovers.

"I think we were intimidated by the taller girls for Fort Meade," said LP head coach Shonda Legree. "I told them at half time that they had to make them work for every shot. They played a lot better in that second half, but it was just too much to overcome."

Green Dragon forward Sierra Weaver looked exhausted after the game as she walked out of the gym.

"I'm all beat up," Weaver said. "They were tough on the inside. My arm is bruised from trying to fight for position against them."

Weaver, who struggled in the first half, finally found her shot late in the game, scoring a team-high eight points, while Ashley Paeplow scored seven points for the Green Dragons.

Shades of improvement shone through in the second half, as the Green Dragons played with much more aggressiveness and confidence. Weaver knocked down a 3-pointer for LP's first points of the third and better ball handling gave the Green Dragons better looks at the basket. Point guard Kaneisha Hamilton made a beautiful pass inside to Paeplow, who powered to the basket for the score that put a smile on Legree's face.

"They played so aggressive in the second half," the LP head coach said. "They need to play with that hunger every night. I don't want them to be intimidated when they face a stronger team. We're not that big as a team, so we're going to face match-ups like that a lot this season."

A much bigger Avon Park team was on tap for Tuesday, when the Green Dragons traveled to face the Red Devils.

For a full story, see Thursday's Highlands Today.

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