Laker Kristen Huntress led her squad to their first win of the season – a road victory over Yarmouth – on Thursday night, Dec. 8. Huntress hashed 16 points for Lake Region en route to the 39-29 W.

“We competed for the 32 minutes, which is a great sign for a young group of kids,” said Lakers head coach Paul True, happy with his girls’ performance.

Lake Region put the first points up in the low-scoring affair. They did it with panache, though, Huntress nailing a three after two long, basketless minutes. It took Yarmouth another two minutes – fully half the first quarter – to get on the board themselves. Johanna Hatton did the honors, but the two-pointer left her girls still trailing by one.

The Clippers did grab a brief lead, 5-3, as the opening eight minutes progressed, but by the end of the quarter, the tally sat even at 5-5.

In the second, strong contributions by Melody Millet (a three and a free) and Spencer True (three frees) gave Lake Region the advantage 12-11 with just a couple minutes to play. Yarmouth managed to squeak ahead 13-12 on an Alison Clark two, but a Lauren Jakobs bucket sent the Lakers into the break on top, 14-13.

The lead changed hands as couple more times to start the third, but before long, Lake Region began to pull away. A Lakers’ run – five Huntress points bookended by a pair of Chandler True threes – put them up 28-20. Yarmouth halved that deficit before the quarter concluded, but Lake Region had seized the momentum.

“We changed up, defensively, and I think that had a great impact in the flow of that game,” said coach True.

Likewise, the Lakers’ superior offensive rebounding proved a substantial difference as play progressed. Coach True attributed his girls’ success in that area to “getting after it; and, when you take extended perimeter shots or you’re shooting threes, rebounds tend to go further away from the basket. Kristen, in particular, did a great job getting her nose to the ball.”

The Clippers managed just three points in the final quarter, a mere third of what the Lakers accrued. Huntress by herself earned more points – she knocked down five free-throws in the home stretch – as the battle went Lake Region’s way.

“This was more about perseverance and sticking with what we do and being patient,” said coach True, “and that played out in the end.”

In addition to Huntress’s 16, Spencer True had four; Millett had seven, Chandler True six, and Jakobs six.

Coach True likes his team’s attack spread out among several girls. “We have a lot of kids who can shoot it; unfortunately, we haven’t shot it well through our first two games. They just need to keep shooting.”

The Lakers jump to 1-1 in 2015-16. The team fell 36-26 in their season opener at Wells on Dec. 4; they welcome the Eagles of Lincoln this Friday.

Yarmouth slips to 0-2; they dropped their first bout of the winter, 36-27, at Gray-New Gloucester last Saturday, Dec. 5. The Clippers’ next matchup is at home vs. Waynflete on Friday.

Laker Spencer True shoulders her way through a Yarmouth defender.Melody Millett can’t quite break free of a mob of Clippers defenders, and tumbles to the floor.Lauren Jakobs aims to slip between two looming Clippers.