by ROCKY RIVER, OH – The Lutheran West Longhorns jumped ahead and hung on late in a tightly contested 60-46 win over Firelands this evening. The Longhorns played well as a team and showed the kind of chemistry that can lead them to a championship. A true testament to first year head coach Becky Mooney-Thompson. In fact, this team doesn’t need to change a thing, but rather hone the skills of the ones they have because this is a team that truly played together and will only grow and get better!
It was refreshing to watch this group of student athletes as this was truly a great culture! The sky is the limit for the 8-1 Longhorns as they looked deep tonight, very deep! I’ll say it again, what an amazing culture at Lutheran West right now!
The Longhorns were led by the dynamic Aliciana Medina with 21 big points. Scoring 17 was the hot hand of Maddie Kandrach while Ella Heisner and Ava Carter each had 7. Chloe Campbell and the scrappy Addy Esposito each finished with 4. Sunny Meyer didn’t score but played solid minutes while Khloe Gill was a DNP due to nose injury. Again, this team is deep and primed for a title run.
The Firelands Falcons were led by the incredible Jordyn Copley who overcame early foul trouble to have one Hell of a night scoring 19 points while Micah Lee and Addie Schrader each had 9. Dilynn Copley had 7 while Kylie Sutorius and Emaley Burnworth each finished with two.
I will say this about Firelands, they played with heart and hustle all game long. No matter the score, they just kept coming and coming and this game was much closer than a 14-point difference, trust me. Head coach Onyx Lopez was incredible to watch and has this team on the right path. With only 5 seniors on the roster, this team has a bright current situation and future to come!
After a close first four minutes that saw the Longhorns edge an 8-7 lead, they went on a run over the final four minutes of the quarter to lead 17-10 after one. Incredibly enough, it could have been more as the Falcons landed in early foul trouble but the Longhorns struggled to convert foul shots, only going 3 of 9 in the first quarter from the line.
The Falcons went on a 8-3 run over the first 5 minutes of the second quarter to tighten the Longhorn lead to 20-18 with 3 minutes left to play in the opening half. A Kandrach foul shots stopped the run as the Longhorns went on to take a 25-22 lead into the break.
The Longhorns began the second half on a run that saw them build their largest lead of the game at 30-22. The hot shooting from Jordyn Copley kept the Falcons in it as she scored 8 in the frame and kept them hanging around only down 4 at 40-36 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter remained close until back to back buckets from Addy Esposito put it away for good late and sent the Longhorns to 8-1, heading into Christmas.
The Players of the game are – Jordyn Copley with 19 points and the CULTURE of Lutheran West. Again, I was blown away by how they supported each other and played for one another. This truly is a TEAM!
