Haviland, Lakes add to record-setting season
The only senior on the Lakes girls basketball roster had a senior moment on Monday night.
Make that two.
Senior Ellie Haviland hit 2 free throws with 7.8 seconds left to give 16th-seeded Lakes a 3-point lead over No. 17 Deerfield in first-round Class 4A regional action at Warren.
As Deerfield desperately looked to knock down a tying 3-pointer in the final seconds, Haviland came up with the biggest defensive play of her career. With authority, she blocked a 3-point attempt by Deerfield's Olivia Westrich out of bounds.
That essentially ended the game, ended Deerfield's season and gave Lakes a 54-51 victory. It also gave Lakes its 18th win of the season, the most ever in program history.
The Eagles, who saw a 15-point third-quarter lead turn into a 3-point deficit with about a minute left in the game, are now 18-12 on the season and will face top-seeded Fremd at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Deerfield, which had defeated Lakes twice during the regular season, closes out with a 14-16 record.
"The feeling of going from winning by a lot and then going down, I just kept telling myself, 'Don't panic, there's still time,' " said Haviland, who scored a game-high 23 points. "I believe in my team. I just knew the whole time that if you keep calm, good things are going to happen. It's not over until the buzzer goes off."
Deerfield was down 40-25 midway through the third quarter but began its comeback by out-scoring Lakes 8-0 to end the quarter. A 15-5 run to start the fourth quarter put the Warriors up 48-45 with 1:15 remaining.
"That was amazing. Our only goal today was to come out hard, no matter what the score was and we did that," said Deerfield guard Margot Sylvan. "We gave it all we had and tried as hard as we could to get back in the game and get that W."
Savannah Sikora put Lakes back on top when she completed an old-fashioned 3- point play with 50 seconds remaining. Then Haviland hit a jumper and knocked down 2 free throws to put Lakes up by 4 points, 52-48.
But Westrich hit a 3-pointer with 8.5 seconds remaining to cut the Deerfield deficit to 52-51.
Two Haviland free throws on the next possession put Lakes up 54-51 and set the stage for Haviland's monster block of another Westrich 3-point attempt in the final seconds.
"This is so exciting," Lakes coach Brian Phelan said. "It's hard to beat a team three times in one season. The ball bounced our way. What an exciting game.
"And our one senior just ended strong. I'm so happy for her."
Natalie Iacopetti also finished in double-figures for Lakes. She had 10 points. Deerfield got double-figures from jesse Holloway (13 points) and Elena Brichacek (12 points on three 3-pointers).