Lake Catholic Girls' Basketball Team Rolls Into Sweet 16

Their opponents knew the Lake Catholic Cougars were 21-2.

But just in case they forgot, coach Frank Soria's Cougars marched into Pymatuning Valley High School Saturday afternoon like stormtroopers, each Cougar clapping a cadenced clap, clap — clap; wearing matching black headbands and socks and silver and green Nike tennis shoes.

The Cougars looked disciplined — and serious.

The team's Div. II district final game against Kenston, who are an equally impressive 19-2 but without the uniform outfitting, was the expected matchup, the district's two best teams.

Lake Catholic proved itself best and led the entire game, although they were challenged late: Final score 58-46.

It is the farthest Lake girls have advanced since they reached the Final Four during the 2005-06 season.

As one of the final 16 teams left in the state, Lake Catholic next plays 8 p.m. Tuesday against Struthers at Barberton High School.

The Cougars pushed the basketball down the floor on offense at every chance with guards Paige Rowan, a senior starter, and junior reserve Erin Mog guiding the charge. Mog's ability to handle the ball and Rowan's speed are a tough combination to slow, especially when they are in the game together.

“We are really fortunate to have two extremely good ball handlers,” said Soria as his team cut down the net. “Erin is good enough to start for all the teams we play. If other teams start to press us, we put them both in.”

The Cougars' other four starters — Beth Switzler, Katlyn Spahar, Delani Stopp and Colette Hounsell — set an early tone with their man-to-man defense. Kenston, a team used to high offensive outputs, seldom looked comfortable.

“I thought it was a great game with tremendous intensity,” Soria said. “Kenston showed why they deserved to play here. I thought they were a formidable opponent.”

As each team worked out their nerves in the first quarter, Lake built a 10-5 lead and grew it to 18-7 at quarter's end. Toward the end of the first and beginning of the second, the Cougars' momentum, strengthened by a large turnout of parents and fans, kept the Bombers from narrowing the deficit.

Lake led 27-18 at halftime, behind a strong half by Stopp (nine first-half points.)

In the third quarter, the Cougars extended the lead to 41-27 with each team renewed, moving the basketball up and down the floor at a feverish pace. The Cougars' largest lead came in the third quarter, 36-21.

Yet Kenston began the fourth quarter with 12-4 run, led by senior Julia Weilemann, junior Tess Ferguson and sophomore Mandy Marchant.

With Lake's lead down to six points, the Cougars steadied, steeled and went on to win. Switzler had six points in the fourth quarter, and finished with a team-high 15.

“The game was very aggressive,” Switzler said. “It felt like we were behind a lot of the time.”

Of her strong fourth quarter, Switzler said, “I knew I had to step up and get it done.”

Stopp finished with 12 and Spahar added nine for the Cougars.

The Cougars were well prepared for the game, thanks to the veteran Soria, head coach since 1993, and his assistants Lisa Stopp, Shannon Maki and Julie Ebner. Hounshell said the team watched “hours of film.”

“We really had them recruited,” she said. She meant to say "scouted" but was too caught up in the moment. “Wow, I can't even talk. We knew we had to get back and stay focused for all four quarters. I'm confident now, especially because of how our coaches prepare us.”

Switzler agreed: “We had papers on them the day before the game, and we were testing each other on the way here.”