Lake Orion Girls Varsity Basketball Coach Steve Roberts said even the referees are complaining about how much running they have to do during his team’s games.
The refs certainly got their daily workouts in during two Dragon victories last week.
First, LO routed Ferndale, 77-35, in their home opener, and then the team used a Bethany Watterworth triple-double to knock off visiting Bishop Foley, 60-30.
In the win over Ferndale on Sept. 12, the Dragons poured in 47 points in the first half alone, and, playing the part of a rude host, they at least doubled the score of the visiting squad in each quarter.
Trisha Dalrymple led the way for LO with a game-high 20 points, while Watterworth added 13 and Melanie LaMereto scored 10.
The Dragons were hoping for a stiffer test against Bishop Foley on Sept. 14, but a 10-1 opening quarter quickly expunged those hopes.
While the Dragons put a lid on the Foley basket on the defensive side, their offensive game plan, to get the ball to Watterworth on the interior early and often, worked to near perfection.
Watterworth’s nine first half points matched those scored by the entire Foley squad as LO took a 16-point halftime lead.
Watterworth took a hard fall in the second quarter, leading to a bruised hip, but came out for the start of the second half and would up with a game-high 13 points.
‘My teammates did a really good job of getting the ball in to me,? Watterworth said. ‘The easiest shot is the lay-up.?
Though she had many such lay-ups, the sophomore also recorded 13 rebounds and an impressive 11 blocks en route to the triple-double.
‘We wanted to establish ourselves early with the inside game,? Roberts said, noting that Watterworth’s presence opened up some looks for the outside shooters.
Dalrymple hit three 3-pointers and had 11 points on the night, while Cortney Kimmel, responsible for setting up many of Watterworth’s easy looks down low, added 10 points and six steals.
Foley, based in Madison Heights, was paced by Ann Novak’s 10 points, but had no answer for the swarming full-court Dragon defense.
‘We like to force up-tempo,? Roberts said. ‘We have the quickness and the ball handlers to do that.?
The coach promised that his team will play with that same exciting style come league play in a couple of weeks.
‘We play the whole 90 feet,? he said.
Roberts credited his team’s practices for their recent string of easy victories.
‘We try to establish a lot of competitive situations for them in practice,? he noted, adding the pressure on players in those situations should translate onto the court in tight OAA III situations.
The team has just two more non-league games before starting play in the league at Oak Park on Sept. 28. Their OAA III home opener is against Stoney Creek and will tip at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3.