Lady Red Hawks Win At Home

Lake Michigan College found themselves in a very tight first quarter battle with South Suburban College. Both teams struggled to score and neither team had a lead larger than two points. The Lady Bulldogs took their first and only lead of the game with 30 seconds left in the first quarter (12-10), but the Lady Red Hawks scored on an offensive rebound with one second left to tie the game at 12-12 after the first 10 minutes. In the second quarter, Lake Michigan held South Suburban scoreless for the first four minutes, but the Lady Red Hawks only scored two points themselves for a 14-12 lead. After the Lady Bulldogs tied the score at 14, Lake Michigan went on a 15-5 run for the remainder of the quarter. The Lady Red Hawks outscored South Suburban 17-7 and went into the locker room with a 29-19 halftime lead.

Lake Michigan maintained a double-digit lead for the first few minutes of the third quarter and held their largest lead at 14 points (35-21) with 8:37 remaining in the quarter. But South Suburban would not go away and mounted a fierce comeback. The Lady Bulldogs finished the quarter on a 19-5 run and pulled with five points (45-40) heading into the final, outscoring Lake Michigan 21-16 in the third quarter. Lake Michigan scored quickly in the first minute of fourth quarter to extend their lead to seven points (47-40), but South Suburban came right back and again pulled within five points (47-42) with 8:45 left in the game.  The Lady Red Hawks then picked up their defense by forcing South Suburban into very difficult shots and also began to convert their offensive opportunities.  Lake Michigan went on a quick 5-0 run to again build their lead into double digits (54-42) with 6:39 left in the game. The Lady Red Hawks held the Lady Bulldogs off and finished the game outscoring South Suburban 12-7.  Lake Michigan outscored South Suburban 17-9 in the final quarter to gain the 62-49 win.  This was the Lady Red Hawks third straight win and they finished the 2019 year as winners by winning four out of their last five games to improve to 5-6 on the season. 

For the game, Lake Michigan shot 37% while holding South Suburban to just 25% shooting. The Lady Red Hawks also out-rebounded South Suburban 58-46, including having 20 offensive rebounds. 

Three players were in double-figures, led by sophomore Morgan Hughes who had 19 points.  Sophomore Aymia Flowers added 25 points and sophomore Delaney Basker chipped 12 points.  Sophomore LaChelle Knox had a game-high 17 rebounds. Flowers also dished out nine assists and sophomore Elasia Craig had a game high five blocks.

After the game, Head Coach, Patrick Daniel stated "We have to grind out games and it all starts with our defensive effort. Holding a good South Suburban team to 49 points is certainly something I am very happy and proud of my team being able to do.  As we start our tough conference schedule in January, we need to be able to play as a team with great energy, effort, and execution and I believe we did that today and the entire month of December winning four out of five games."

The Lady Red Hawks will now start conference play in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) Western Conference.  Lake Michigan travels to Grand Rapids Community College on Saturday, January 4, 2020 in their first conference game.  Tip-off is set for 1:00 PM.