Lake Holcombe has loss to Warriors, win over Falcons

By Ginna Young

Lake Holcombe’s girls basketball program split the week’s games, against two tough conference foes.

Jan. 24 vs. Winter conference (L 87-64)

“We got off on the wrong foot, dug ourselves a hole early, due to unexpected injury and other factors,” said assistant coach J.D. Kirkman.

Winter got out to a strong start, outscoring the Chieftains by 22 points in the first half.

“The defense just wasn’t there tonight,” said Kirkman. Lake Holcombe shook off the early setbacks and bounced back to outscore the Warriors in the second half of the game, but the bout went to Winter, 87-64.

“The girls fought hard to come back, in the end, it just wasn’t enough,” said Kirkman.

Senior Karly Kirkman led for the Chieftains, with 23 points, with junior Emma Lechleitner right behind, with 21. Sophomore Abby Jones knocked down three shots from beyond the arc, finishing with 13 points, while senior Justine Kane had 7.

“Hopefully we can learn from this and evolve,” said J.D. Kirkman.

Jan. 27 vs. Flambeau conference (W 65-45)

To end the week, the Chieftains battled with Flambeau on Lake Holcombe’s home court.

“The girls were in great spirits going into the game,” said J.D. Kirkman. “We had a feeling it was going to be an interesting game to play.”

The Chieftain took a 13-point lead into halftime and while it was closer in the second half, that wouldn’t stop Lake Holcombe, as they took a 65-45 victory.

“Our bench was exceptionally short going into tonight’s game, and throughout the night, it got even smaller,” said J.D. Kirkman. “Once we lost Kane early in the second half, we had to adjust the game plan to protect our eligible players.”

K. Kirkman racked up 25 points in the bout, with Lechleitner right behind, with 20. Jones added 12 points on the night, followed by Kane, with 6, and freshman Savannah Burlingame chipping in with 2.

“Three throws were on tonight, Karly Jo was 15-18 (83 percent),” said J.D. Kirkman. “Overall we were 26-37.”

Lake Holcombe is now 8-6 overall and 6-4 in East Lakeland Conference play.

“We tell our athletes every practice, free throws win games,” said J.D. Kirkman. “That was true tonight.”