LANCASTER TAKES DOWN JAMESTOWN, WIN AAA TITLE

The Lancaster Lady Legends are champions of Section VI’s Class AAA after a 67-46 win over Jamestown on Sunday night at Buffalo State University.

Lancaster was able to take home the title after a game in which they came in prepared and asserted their dominance.

“Awesome team win. Everybody had to step up,” coach Jayson Jaskier said. “Jamestown had an awesome game plan going into it, and we assumed they would. They're very well-coached and well-prepared. They had almost as much time off as we did to prepare for it. So just knowing that that could be in their bag of tricks, our girls were prepared to step up and answer the call and be ready to take over as scorers during this game.”

Everyone on the Lady Legends had to step up for a multitude of reasons. The first is that the team hadn’t played in 23 days (February 14), so naturally it would take a team-wide effort to defeat Jamestown.

“To stay sharp, we did some dual practices. We brought in some schools to go against, but you’ve got to give the girls time off to step away,” Jaskier said. “I think that kind of helps you not get static and not get stale with doing the same thing. So we kind of strategically scheduled things, like hey, this is going to be an intense practice. This will be a shooting practice, and then here's a couple days off for you to just relax and be kids and really take advantage of these 23 days to heal your body. 

“Because, as we know, the January schedule and then those two weeks in February, especially being snow days, can be rough. So some games were cramped and you're playing two or three tough games a week. They needed the rest.”

The second reason is that Madison Francis – Lancaster’s senior guard and a Mississippi State commit – was the focal point of Jamestown’s defense. Which isn’t out of the ordinary for her, but after she got into foul trouble early in the first quarter (one in which Lancaster led by just six points) and her production was limited, Francis needed her teammates to step up – and they did.

“We had a good rotation of girls to come in and kind of adjust some things,” Jaskier said.

“We had seen that during the season, where they had to be successful without Madison on the floor. And I think that really gave them confidence early on, so that when you get to a big moment this isn’t something new. Like okay, she's out, but we still need to come out here and play and do our job as a team.

“Madison usually sees other team’s best defenders and they were throwing the kitchen sink at us because they knew it's win or go home. I’m really proud of the way these girls lift each other up and support each other. We need team wins, we can't just rely on one person. They all work hard individually in practice, and it showed tonight.”

Francis was excited to see her teammates raise their level of play in the second and third quarters, in which the Lady Legends extend their lead to 15 points.

“McKenna Corcoran was a big part of this game,” Francis said of her teammate scoring a contest-high 22 points. “I know the game plan was to feed her and she's really a key to this team. I try not to get in my head about (getting double and triple-teamed), but it's kind of hard. I just let my team move the ball a lot, so I feel like that really benefited us tonight.”

Jaskier also credited the halftime for allowing his team to adjust.

“The halftime was huge,” Jaskier said. “During a game, you utilize the time in between quarters and timeouts to kind of change the game plan and talk to the girls, but when we could collectively get in the locker room and exhale and say, ‘Okay, the first half is behind us, what did we see? What do we want to keep on our end? What do we need to change to attack them?’ That was huge.”