MAPLE CITY — The 2023-24 season marks a new era for the Glen Lake girls basketball team.
First-year Lakers head coach Brad Fosmore started his stint as the new Glen Lake head coach with a 36-32 win over Traverse City St. Francis (0-1) on Tuesday as freshman Lydia Fosmore led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds. The Lakers haven’t lost a season opener since the 2016-17 season.
“I have great coaches, so they were helping me out and building up through practice,” the freshman Fosmore said on her first varsity start. “Knowing that I have good teammates out on the floor with me is another factor that helps.”
Former Lakers’ head coach Jason Bradford coached the Lakers for more than 10 years and announced his retirement in the offseason. Bradford helped coach Glen Lake to a plethora of Northwest Conference titles, district tournament victories and regional crowns before snatching the Division 4 state championship trophy last season.
Coach Fosmore will be in the same position that Bradford was in when he was coaching his daughters, but both coaches have the same philosophy when coaching their daughters.
“We leave everything on the floor and do not take anything home. We won’t talk about strategy, and I give her a reprieve at home,” Coach Fosmore said on coaching his daughter.
Lydia said she and her dad talked a lot about being there for each other as they embarked on a new journey as a part of Glen Lake girls basketball for the first time.
“I’m grateful to have him as my coach, and I know that he’s a great coach and he’ll do anything for me,” Lydia said.
The Lakers kicked off the 2023-24 season with everyone wanting a piece of the D4 state champions, starting with the Gladiators. Glen Lake graduated four players from the championship team, leaving a void the Lakers would need to fill.
Tuesday’s feat started slow for both teams as the first game of the season jitters kicked in. Both teams rolled out new lineups that resulted in a bevy of turnovers, fouls and missed free throws.
The young Gladiator team led the Lakers throughout the first and second quarters, with senior Adrianna Spranger finishing the first half with seven points. The third quarter entailed one tie and several lead changes.
Spranger finished with 17 points and four steals.
St. Francis entered the third quarter with a 16-13 lead, but the Lakers jumped out front with a 20-18 after a hot streak. St. Francis sophomore Addie Peterson sunk a two-pointer to tie it up quickly, but Glen Lake junior Jessie Pugh and Fosmore responded with points to give the Lakers the lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Lydia helped guide the Lakers to a victory in the fourth quarter by sinking several baskets and making her free throws when needed. The Lakers’ defense held the Gladiators to six points total, but the turnovers and fouls contributed to the low score.
“We have a different team and a lot of inexperienced kids playing varsity, but we have a lot of athletic girls that are willing to play hard,” St. Francis head coach Adam Warren said. “We are going to see some inconsistencies throughout games at the beginning of the season, then hopefully get things rolling.”
St. Francis has six sophomores who had their first taste on Tuesday of what it’s like being on the varsity team. Sophomore Harper Nausadis played a role on the junior varsity team last season and got her first start on varsity.
Nausadis finished with six points, three rebounds, one assist and one block. Sophomore Sidney Peters started her first varsity game as well and finished with seven points, five rebounds and six steals.
Warren noted that Nausadis’ energy is something he won’t have to worry about this season as she was all over the floor before getting into foul trouble.
The energy from the Lakers was viable from the start despite some pressure of being a part of a state championship team. But the young Lakers core is up to the challenge.
“It’s a lot of pressure just coming off as state champs, and we lost a lot of great players,” Lydia said. “Just coming out here, we knew that we have to lay it out on the floor and work our hardest, even if we don’t have the same team as last season.”
The Lakers look to build on the season with their first Northwest Conference matchup Thursday at Benzie Central. The Gladiators start their last season opener in the Lake Michigan Conference at Charlevoix on Thursday.