Arnold, Lancers run away from Warren

Sam Arnold and her Lake Park teammates started well in Saturday's nonconference girls basketball game against Warren. With Arnold leading the way, the Lancers appeared to be on their way to a runaway victory.

But they let up a bit defensively in the early part of the second half and the visiting Blue Devils played inspired ball to make things interesting. Lake Park, however, showed why it is one of the area's top teams and pulled away for a 49-35 win in Roselle.

"We came out and had a real good first quarter," said Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling, whose team led 20-3 at the end of the first eight minutes. "We lost our intensity and focus. It showed with turnovers."

That certainly wasn't the case in the early going. Arnold poured in 13 of her game-high 19 points in the first quarter. The senior forward made 5 of her 6 shots from the floor during that stretch. The Lancers (8-1) also got some points from point guard Jenna Aloia and forwards Sarah Drozdowski and Chelsea Gieseke to surge to a 29-13 lead at halftime.

Warren (4-6) looked out of sync offensively and committed 14 turnovers in the first half. Defensively, the Blue Devils weren't able to do much to stop Arnold from torching the nets.

"I got in one of these streaks," Arnold said. "As a team, we came out ready to play in the first."

During halftime Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz challenged his team to play more aggressively. After trailing by as many as 19 points, the Blue Devils (4-6) cut the deficit to 10 points late in the third quarter on a steal and layup by guard Destinee Wells.

Other Warren players who provided offensive sparks were guard Joree Green, who led the team with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and forward Amanda Barger who chipped in 7 points.

"I am proud of the resolve and patience the team showed in the second half to give ourselves a chance to come back," Stanczykiewicz said. "We have a young team and we played against a style of defense they have never seen before."

After the Wells layup, Aloia stepped up with some senior leadership for Lake Park. She drove strong to the hoop on back-to-back plays and got to the line, making all 4 free throws. She also got a clutch offensive rebound putback in the fourth quarter.

"Jenna is a wonderful player who gives it everything she has," Fruehling said. "She is a little sparkplug offensively."

Aloia, who scored 10 points, felt that getting back to the strong defensive play from earlier in the game was key in helping the Lancers get the job done.

"We really needed to pick up defensively," Aloia said.