Clark, St. Viator top Leyden for first home victory

New coach.

Players from four different classes.

Limited preparation time in the summer to put in a new system and philosophy.

Tough schedule to begin the season.

“We were kind of behind the eight ball,” said Lions coach Jason Raymond. “We are kind of finding ourselves now.”

Raymond, who won his share of games at the Cahill Gymnasium as a St. Viator basketball player (1992 grad), found his first on the Lions floor as a coach.

With sophomore Myia Clark scoring a career-high 23 points, Raymond's Lion began play in their own Blenner Holiday Classic with a 52-42 victory over Leyden on Saturday afternoon.

“It was awesome getting our first win at home in our first game of the tournament,” said Lions senior guard Julia Bergstrom. “We were really trying to snap our losing streak (three games) so everyone was fired up.”

Clark was firing in 3-pointers like layups in the second quarter. The Lions scoring leader from last season hit three consecutive from long range in less than three minutes to help the Lions take a 26-19 lead with 1:18 left in the first half.

“I had to get myself open and then try and knock them down,” Clark said. “We want to win every game in the tournament, so we have to take them one at a time.”

Leyden junior forward Cherish Sepulveda spent a lot of time scoring for the Eagles (4-7) as she connected for a team-high 18 points. She also grabbed a team-high 5 rebounds.

Sepulveda's layup to start the second half got the Eagles to within 23-20.

But the Lions went on a 10-0 run and never looked back.

Senior Maggie Leazer had 4 points during the rally, including a steal and a layup. Olivia Solimene made a big half circle drive from the top of the key for a layup and Clark contributed the other 4 points.

Clark also had 9 rebounds and 2 steals in the game.

“We are really proud of her (Clark),” Bergstrom said. “She really stepped up not only with her shot, but defensively and as a team player. She was sharing the basketball and just played a really great game.”

“Not only did she score,” Raymond said. “She crashed the boards and her defense took a step forward. She took a charge and was giving us help-side defense.

“When a leading scorer does those things, the rest of the team will feed off that.”

Lions forward Haley Robinson (6 rebounds, 3 steals) and Leazer (7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) each chipped in 7 points while Solimene (4 rebounds) finished with 6 and Jenna Breslin (4 rebounds) ecah had 4. Michaela Mueller made 3 of 4 free throws and made 2 steals.

“We had a really good practice on Friday,” Raymond said. “Our communication was much better. We focused on team building, talking to each other and giving encouragement to one another. And that carried over to this game.”

Also reaching double figures for Leyden was junior guard Artasia Gusman with 11 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter. Teammates Amilia Figueroa and Gianna Grande each had 2 steals.

In addition to Clark, Leazer also had a 3-pointer for St. Viator, which will face Maine East on Monday at 3 p.m. when the tournament resumes.

“While its has been tough to take the losses early in the season, that will benefit us as we move forward,” Raymond said. “It's been a tough schedule and that is something that can help us over the next four weeks.”