BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Lady Cagers continued their winning streak in their home opener against Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes last Thursday, 59-29.
Tiffany Senerius opened the game with the first basket for the Lady Lakers, ranked eighth in Oakland County, against the Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball team, who is ranked fourth in the county.
Junior Maddie Beck blocked the Lakers in the their territory and grabbed possession of the ball. Clarkston attempted to tied the score with a basket but missed.
It was senior Kristen Page on her attempt to bring the Wolves into the lead off her three-point shot with 5:34 left in the first quarter.
Our Lady of the Lakes took the lead back with a 3-point shot from Senerius, 40 seconds later.
The back and forth battle for the lead continued as Beck scored five points and Senerius scored a basket.
“Lakes played very hard,” said Christine Rogers, Lady Wolves head coach. “They were ready to defend against our bigs. But by the end of the first quarter we had it figured out.”
With three minutes to go in the quarter junior Kayla Luchenbach tied the score and was sent to the line for one extra point on a free throw. Her successful attempt brought Clarkston into the lead by one point.
The Wolves finished the quarter with seven more points with two from junior Molly Nicholson, two from Luchenbach and a 3-pointer from Page at the buzzer, 18-11.
The Lakers opened the second quarter scoring one out of their two free throw attempts at the line.
Clarkston came back with a 9-point run starting with Nicholson’s two shots on her trip to the free throw line. Luchenbach scored four points in the run and Beck scored a 3-pointer before Our Lady of the Lakes was sent to the line for two free throw shots, with one successful point.
The Wolves finished the first half with a 33-10 lead with the six remaining points from Luchenbach.
During the second half, Clarkston was able to give their starters a break and pull in players from the bench.
“We got people in the game who hadn’t seen a lot of time and give them the opportunity to play some basketball,” Rogers said adding it helps the team become deeper being able to put in different players early in the season.
“It’s going to challenge the starters to keep earning their spots every day,” she said. “If we get into foul trouble or have people with injuries we have players ready to step in.”
Luchenbach led with 22 points with 11 rebounds and Nicholson had 14 points, ten rebounds and was 6-for-6 at the line.
“My two bigs combined for 36 of our points,” Rogers added.
Beck scored three 3-pointers towards her 15 points for the night. Page had two 3-pointers for her six point total.
The Lady Wolves open the week hosting Birmingham Seaholm on Wednesday and are home again as they host crosstown rivals Lake Orion on Friday.
Rogers said guarding Senerius prepares the girls for Maddie Novak, one of Orion’s strong forwards.
“It helped us to prepare for a small, quick team,” she added. “They are going to run. Oxford, Our Lady of the Lakes and Orion have one good player who is going to be quick and go to the boards. If she gets off she is going to have a good game – defense is key.”
JV begins at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.

  clarkston, Girls Basketball, Varsity