It still doesn’t have senior guard Aliza Simpson in its lineup due to a knee injury, but the Londonderry High girls’ basketball squad has rolled into a nice groove recently, winning four consecutive games and pushing its Division I record up to a superb 13-1.
The Lady Lancers’ two most recent victims were the Pinkerton Academy Lady Astros – in a bit of a revenge win for the LHS side – and a Salem High contingent that didn’t play in a manner that one would expect with its 8-4 divisional record.
After dropping a tight decision to the Pinkerton Lady Astros in Ball Family Trophy play at Londonderry High several Fridays ago, the Lady Lancer cagers got their bit of revenge on the academy court on Tuesday, Feb. 11, by snagging a hard-fought 44-40 victory.
Trailing by a bucket (31-29) heading into the fourth quarter, coach John Fagula’s LHS contingent outscored its host by a 15-9 margin during the final eight minutes of play to bag the win.
Londonderry junior forward Casey Evans stepped up with a huge game for LHS, tallying career-high totals of 24 points and 17 rebounds.
“It was a monster performance,” said Fagula.
Pinkerton, which went without its standout junior forward Val Martin in the first meeting of these squads due to a wrist injury, had Martin lead the PA offensive charge in the rematch with 11 points.
Fagula and his charges expected a challenge from the Salem High Lady Blue Devils at LHS last Friday night, Feb. 14, with the visitors entering the evening with an 8-4 record and having won their last two contests. But with illness and injury hampering the Salem squad, the Lady Devils didn’t give their hosts much of a challenge in a 63-33 blowout.
Londonderry led 16-9 after a somewhat sloppy first period, but after Salem netted the first two buckets of the second period the hosts took the game over entirely and remained dominant.
The Lady Devils’ two early second quarter baskets made it a 16-13 game, but through the remainder of the second stanza and all the way through the end of the third – a period of 14 minutes of hoop – the Lady Lancers outscored their guests by the massive tally of 31-4. And with three quarters complete, the Lancer lead sat at 33 points at 50-17.
“They have a lot of speed and quickness, and they’re a lot better than their performance showed tonight,” said Fagula. “But we played a good game and got the win.”
Taylor Collins and Brittany Roche paced the LHS offense with 12 points apiece, but all in all 10 different players netted points for the victors.
But the Londonderry squad’s winning streak came to an end this past Monday night, Feb. 17, with a tough 43-42 loss to the Alvirne High Lady Broncos in Hudson.
And while that decision snuffed out the Lady Lancers’ winning skein and moved their D-I record to 13-2, the victory ended a mini losing skid of two games for now 9-5 Alvirne. But the LHS team entered this week expecting Simpson back.