Finger Lakes Falls to #5 Nationally Ranked Fulton-Montgomery, 65-51
CANANDAIGUA – In their latest game, the Finger Lakes CC Lady Lakers fell at home to the nation's fifth ranked team in Fulton-Montgomery CC on Tuesday, 65-51.
A team entering play with a record of 9-1, the visiting Lady Raiders grabbed the road win behind a rounded offensive effort out of its starting lineup. The Lady Lakers (3-7) saw four of Fulton's five starters reach double figures in scoring last night.
Finger Lakes, on a night where they didn't shoot the ball particularly well, hung around in the contest in the second half after entering halftime, trailing 32-15.
The first half and the game was highlighted offensively by the hot shooting hand of Lady Raiders freshman forward, Sherice Gayle. Playing in a combined 32 minutes in both half's, she scored a team-high 17 points off 7-10 shooting.
The Lady Lakers, who couldn't seem to string together much offense in the first half, scored 36 points post recess. On a night where the Lady Lakers shot just 28% from the field, Finger Lakes managed to not let the difference in the score spiral out of control.
Finger Lakes showed no signs of conceding to the high-powered offense that is that of the Lady Raiders. The Lady Lakers kept their composure throughout the 40-minute contest.
Both teams, aside from offense, provided the crowd with excellent defensive efforts.
The Lady Lakers drew with Fulton in the rebounding category. Each team, collectively, grabbed 40 rebounds apiece.
Sharing game-high rebounding honors were a pair of Lady Lakers in addition to a member of the Lady Raiders roster. Britany Monpere and Ashley House of Finger Lakes – and – Cheryl Osborne of Fulton – each of who are listed as forwards – each tallied 9 rebounds apiece in the matchup.
Five of Monpere's rebounds came on the offensive end of the court.
The steal and block columns would point the arrow in favor of the Lady Raiders. Fulton, which stole the ball away from the hosts 13 times, received a game-high 4 steals out of freshman guard Kassandra Flowers.
Finger Lakes, not too far behind, delivered 10 steals as a team in the losing effort. Leading the way in this department for the home team with her 3 steals was guard Julia Pagano.
As for blocks, the night belonged to Osborne as she put a halt to five Lady Laker shot attempts. In addition to her game-high 5 blocks and 9 rebounds, Osborne scored 13 points in 30 minutes worth of playtime.
Finger Lakes, despite falling, was led by the game-high scoring performance of Casi Strait. The Dundee, NY native, who played in every single second of Tuesday's contest, scored a game-high 24 points. She was the lone Lady Laker who reached double figures in scoring.
Monpere was the second leading scorer for the Lady Lakers yesterday evening. To go along with her 9 rebounds, she finished the game with 7 points.
Adding a pair of 6-point efforts for Finger Lakes were Pagano and Kelli McCauley. Pagano, in addition to her team-high 3 steals, handed out a team-high 5 assists.
The other two Fulton starters to score in double figures were Takima Lucky (12 points) and Flowers (10 points).
Lucky not only had a quality game in terms of scoring, she also played well in the passing department where she dished out a game-high 7 assists.
The loss was the third consecutive for the Lady Lakers. They will look to put an end to their losing streak in their next game, which is slated for next Tuesday (12/11) on the road where they will take on Erie CC. The time of that meeting is slated to start at 6:00 p.m.