The Lake Region girls have excelled in almost every aspect of basketball this winter. One area of concern for coach Paul True, however, has been his team’s tendency to start slowly.

But in Tuesday night’s home game with Falmouth, a 15-1 run to begin the game hints the earlier sluggish starts may no longer be the chink in the armor.

The Lakers went on to win 60-39 over the scrappy, competitive Yachtsmen. That victory kept the Lakers perfect at 13-0 and an early favorite for the Class B state title.

“I’m very pleased,” said True. “The first 16 minutes probably, other than a few mental breakdowns, was our best half of basketball. And it was against a quality team.”

Now overconfidence seems to be the foremost threat out there to the Lakers. Led by pure-shooter Samantha Allen and inside battler Kate Callahan, Lake Region has plenty of scorers. A deep bench only bolsters an already savvy pressure defense, and confidence at the free throw line allows the girls to play aggressively on both ends of the court.

Callahan, who led the team Tuesday with 19 points, insists her teammates are doing everything they can to thwart a mental letdown, which looms as their biggest enemy.

“I think it’s about being mentally prepared,” she said. “We don’t take anything lightly. We don’t want to get cocky, and we don’t because we work hard every day.”

That hard work, said True, is what makes this year’s group even more impressive than his team that won 18 games last season.

“If I was to pinpoint anything about this team, it would flat out be the effort,”True said. “These kids work hard every time we’re on the court, whether it’s in practice or in games. That’s the difference between our team last year and our team this year.”

Allen, the Lakers’ leading scorer this season, sparked the quick start Tuesday, scoring the game’s first six points on an inside basket and four free throws.

The 15-1 run turned into a 17-5 first-quarter lead and the home team stretched that to 37-16 at the half. Allen scored 18 points and eight Lakers pitched in points in the contest.

That the girls were a little disappointed at allowing 39 points is more indicative of just how good they are defensively.

“That’s the most anyone has scored on us,” said Allen, shaking her head. And about the slow starts, “We’re still trying to get that out of our system.”

Callahan points to a good defense that keeps getting better as her team’s most impressive weapon.

“Our full court press,” she said, is what she is most proud of. “We’re very quick and no one can keep up with us.”

Credit point guard Kim Rivet, who scored 8 points Tuesday, for spearheading that tenacious press. Her quickness made every trip down the court an adventure for the visitors.

Rivet also does an outstanding job running the show offensively, getting the ball to the open teammate. And athletic Renee Nicholas and Z.Z. Leighton give the team a solid starting five on both ends of the court.

Falmouth’s girls, to their credit, kept battling. Paige Wyman put up some fearless shots and ended the night leading her team with 11 points. Teammate Bethany Graffam finished with nine. But the Lakers defense never allowed Falmouth, which dropped to 6-6, to gain an offensive rhythm

“We’re very deep,” said True. “We want to play baseline to baseline for 32 minutes, so the kids on the bench better be ready to play.”

Allen, who’s soft shooting touch turns this team from good to excellent and who has garnered most of the media attention this year, said she’s just going out there “and having fun.”

“We’re definitely hitting on all cylinders,” Allen said.

The Lakers, ranked first in the most recent Heal points, play second-ranked York (11-2) at home today (Jan. 27).

Lake Region handled York 50-22 on the road three weeks ago, but True insists the margin of victory was misleading.

“That was not indicative of these two teams,” he said. “They have great athletes.”

York rebounded from that loss to win its next five.

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