Elizabeth Lane is a bridge between the players that helped build the Skaneateles girls basketball team into a perennial OHSL Liberty National division power and the younger stars who want to make their own mark.
Lane, a four-year senior starter, reached a rare plateau in the high-school ranks Monday night, recording her 1,000th career point during the Lakers’ season-opening 57-42 defeat to Bishop Ludden.
Throughout this season, Lane’s leadership will be a necessity. Skaneateles graduated an exceptional senior class, including leading scorer Nicole Beatson, leading rebounder Joanna Dobrovosky and standouts Molly Wood, Sara Tomlinson and Kristen Pille, from a team that lost in last year’s Section III Class B quarterfinal to eventual state champion Utica-Notre Dame.
Now, Lane is one of just two seniors on head coach Jill Blasi’s squad (Emmeline Graham is the other). The rest are juniors, freshmen and a pair of eighth-graders, including Joanna Dobrovosky’s younger sister, Olivia, who started against Ludden.
Breaking in a new lineup, Skaneateles had to deal with a Ludden squad without its star freshman, Danielle Rauch, who sprained an ankle late last week and would miss the opener. But the Gaelic Knights still had sophomore Meg Sierotnik, who like Lane wears number 4 – and would proceed to burn the Lakers all night.
The pivotal sequence came late in the first quarter. Skaneateles led, 8-4, before Ludden broke through with a 17-2 run to close the period and move ahead for good. Sierotnik had seven of those points, and 10 in the first half.
Trailing by as much as 29-12 midway through the second quarter, the Lakers inched back within nine, 31-22, by halftime. Lane, who entered the night with 987 career points, had six points in the half, moving within seven of her milestone.
During a frustrating third quarter, Ludden kept taking wild shots, but Skaneateles could not capitalize, only getting within eight, 33-25, before Sierotnik tacked on six more points to extend the margin to 42-27.
As the final period wore on, and Sierotnik made two more 3-pointers to move her game-high total to 24 points, the only question left was whether Lane would make it to 1,000. A series of missed 3-pointers, and even a missed free throw (one of many on the night for the Lakers), left her at 998 as the clock ticked under one minute to play.
Then, on the baseline, Lane drove to the hoop, went under the rim and connected on a reverse layup with 53 seconds left, getting her to 1,000. The game was briefly stopped as fans from both Skaneateles and Ludden gave Lane a standing ovation for her achievement.
All told, Lane had 13 points, while Shannon Pfoehl finished with 11 points and Kelsey Kraetz added seven points.
Skaneateles had its home opener Friday night, against Jordan-Elbridge, and this proved to be a one-sided affair, the Lakers smashing past the Eagles 57-11.
The fact that J-E had won its opener over Phoenix back on Tuesday was enough of a wake-up for the Lakers, whose defense controlled the game from start to finish, never letting the Eagles score more than four points in any single period.
Lane, with the pressure of the milestone behind her, outscored J-E by herself with 14 points and added eight rebounds, five steals and three assists. Dobrovosky matched Lane’s 14 points and tacked on seven steals, four rebounds and four assists. Bailey Herr had 13 rebounds to go with her six points as Foehl and Hannah Atkinson added seven points apiece.
Now the Lakers hit the heart of its league schedule, going to Westhill Tuesday before hosting Cazenovia on Thursday night.
