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Miners Blast Past Green Dragons

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Lake Placid senior guard Kaneisha Hamilton fights for a loose ball with Fort Meade's Angel Mitchell during the first quarter of Thursday night's game.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: December 6, 2008

LAKE PLACID - Losing senior guard Kaneisha Hamilton to a back injury didn't help the chances of the Lake Placid girls basketball team against Fort Meade on Thursday night.

The Miners got a game-high 15 points and 12 rebounds from forward Bette Morris and used their height advantage to control the paint en route to a 52-28 win over the Green Dragons.

The win improved Fort Meade to 3-1, while the loss dropped Lake Placid to 1-5.

"I'm happy we didn't get beat by a hundred points," said veteran Green Dragon coach Shonda Legree. "We missed a lot of easy baskets in the early going and had some turnovers.

"We had a game plan that was working until Kaneisha got hurt and then things kind of got away from us, but I'm proud of the girls for playing hard."

Lake Placid came out in a box-and-one defense to take away the outside shooting of Fort Meade guard Angel Mitchell.

The defense worked, holding Mitchell to only seven points, but Miner forward Ashanti Johnson took advantage by scoring all six of her points in the paint to give Fort Meade a 12-0 lead.

Lake Placid junior forward Sierra Weaver scored on a layup to get the Dragons on the board, but Hamilton crashed to the floor fighting for a loose ball with under a minute remaining in the quarter and would not return.

Losing Hamilton, a versatile player who helps bring the ball up and has the ability to drive to the basket or shoot the outside jumper, was the last thing the LP squad needed.

Fort Meade took advantage of Hamilton's absence, as Mitchell buried a pair of 3-pointers and Lyisha Graham scored four of her 13 points as the Miners extended their lead to 27-9 at the half.

"Fort Meade is a good team and we held them in check for a while," Legree said. "But we let them get some good looks in the second quarter and they made their shots."

Lake Placid mounted a rally in the third period as Brandi Colbert hit back-to-back 3-pointers for six of her 10 points to pull the Green Dragons closer.

"Brandy can shoot the ball," said Legree. "She just needs to keep shooting with confidence."

Fort Meade went to work on the inside with Graham and Morris combining for 12 points as the Miners opened up a 44-17 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Lake Placid's Kunshee Wilson came off the bench to score six points and Shandecia Litmen added three points, but the Miners ran out the clock to seal the win.

"We've got a young team and we're improving with each game we play," said Legree. "We don't know how long Kaneisha is going to be out, but we've got to keep working hard to learn our assignments to become a better team.

"It's early in the season and we want o stay positive and do the best we can."

Lake Placid is back in action with a road game at Walker Memorial Academy on Monday night.

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com.

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