Campus News
January 28th, 2022
Laker women run win streak to 5 games
Wise's fast start sparks Garrett College to easy win over CSM
Jersey Wise scored a game-high 25 points, including 13 in the opening period, Monday afternoon as the Garrett College women's basketball team cruised to an 83-35 win over the College of Southern Maryland.
The Lakers (10-2 overall, 3-2 Maryland JuCo) have won 5 straight, with 3 of the 5 wins coming by 45 points or more.
Josie Canales (17 points, game-high 15 rebounds, 5 assists), Harmoni Swain (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Aliyah Tucker (10 points, 12 rebounds) each notched double-doubles for the Lakers. Josias Mickens scored 10 points, giving the Lakers 5 in double figures, and dished out a game-high 6 assists. Shay Barlow contributed 6 points as all 6 Lakers got into the scoring column.
"I was worried about us coming out a little flat, but they had great energy for playing a lot of games in a short amount of time," said GC head coach JT Lewis, whose squad was playing its third game in 4 days.
Lewis said establishing an early lead helped his squad work on skills they will need down the stretch of the season.
"We worked on our 1-3-1 [zone defense] and just kind of used today to fine tune things we've been needing to emphasize," said Lewis.
Janiah Jones scored 14 points to lead the Hawks (4-8, 1-4), who have lost 5 straight.
The Lakers took charge early, using an 8-0 run to break a 2-2 tie. Swain started the spurt with a 3-pointer. After Wise split a pair of free throws and scored a layup in transition, Tucker hit a floater to give Garrett a 10-2 lead.
Wise took over from there, scoring 10 of the Lakers' next 14 points as GC built a 24-10 lead at the quarter break. The freshman guard had 3 transition layups and a pair of 3-pointers during the opening stanza.
Wise sat most of the second quarter with 2 fouls, but that hardly slowed down the Lakers. Swain had 8 second-quarter points and Josie Canales added 5 as Garrett led by as many as 24 points before settling for a 43-21 halftime cushion.
The Lakers broke the game wide open with a 16-0 run to start the second half. Mickens had a pair of 3-pointers, Swain added a couple of jumpers, and five different Lakers had points during the run as the lead reached 59-21.
The Lakers led by as many as 50 points on four separate occasions in the final quarter as they finished up their second-largest win of the season.
Lewis said working Mickens and Barlow into the team flow is critical. Mickens is averaging 15.7 points per game in 3 games on the team while Barlow is rounding into shape as an interior defender and rebounder since returning from illness.
"Shay is getting back into shape and starting to play some meaningful minutes," observed Lewis. "Once we get our spacing together and more time playing as a unit I think we'll continue to improve."
The Lakers are off until Monday when they host Allegany College of Maryland in a 5 p.m. contest.
"The 5-day break will be great for us to kind of catch our breath, condition and get ready for the games coming up," said Lewis.
