WILSON — If Wilson loses a Niagara-Orleans League game, keep the ticket. It doesn’t happen often.
The Lakewomen posted a 62-game win streak in league play, dating back to a 2018 loss to Medina. That streak ended in a loss to Royalton-Hartland in the first league game of the season.
And then they lost another one to Akron, the first time Wilson has lost back-to-back league games under coach Brian Baker, who has gone 210-9 in league play since taking over as varsity coach in 2009.
So after starting the season 0-6 overall, there is work to be done to get the team back to Wilson’s winning ways. A 29-point win over Newfane on Friday got Wilson in the win column, but this season won’t be as simple as the previous ones.
“I think we also kind of expected us to win, like it’s been happening for years now,” captain Emily Phillips said. “I think even though we knew the season wasn’t going great so far, we kind of had those expectations because of how the last few years have gone. We were stunned when Roy-Hart was keeping up with us and I just think there was a level of shock after Akron, too.”
Some little fixes can have big results, driving them back to their dominant nature.
The Lakewomen have struggled with ball control, and it has factored into the series of losses the team has accumulated. Wilson turned the ball over 44 times against Roy-Hart, but limited it to 27 times against Newfane.
“For the game against Newfane we were all so excited and hyped for the game in the locker room. We were prepared and we were really excited to play them, especially since they’re our rivals,” captain Abbie Faery said.
Scoring has been a struggle at times, eclipsing 40 points twice all season after averaging 51 points per game a season ago. Wilson has produced balanced scoring, with 11 girls that scored in the same game, but there is still a need for some girls to step up and net some more points.
The Lakewomen don’t have a player currently scoring in double figures. Junior captain Bella Thrush is leading the team with 7.1 points per game, followed by Phillips (6.1), junior Rowan Simpson (5.9) and Faery (5.1).
Wilson is actually averaging more steals this season (21) than a year ago (17), but isn’t converting them into points often enough, according to Baker. Against Newfane, Wilson scored 17 points off 26 turnovers and had 12 more second-chance points.
“We had a really tough non-league schedule to start. They’re super young, so they’re going to make some young mistakes,” Baker said. “But (Friday), they really battled hard defensively, their effort was outstanding.”
The girls worked hard every practice to bounce back from their slow start in the hopes of being crowned league champions again. Baker is adamant they need to have confidence in themselves and level of play, as well as building and learning from mistakes made.
According to Baker, it’s an easy and fun group to deal with, noting that they’re all good girls in the classroom, both behaviorally and academically, there isn’t drama, and they put in their full effort each practice. They’re also friends off the court.
“Our teamwork and our friendship outside of basketball is also super important and we’re all like one team even outside of basketball,” said Faery.
Leading the Lakewomen down this unfamiliar current are their four captains — senior Phillips and juniors Faery, Simpson and Thrush.
Both Phillips and Faery spoke of the importance of the energy they enter the game with, as well as how it is vital to have each other’s backs when mistakes are inevitably made.
“We just have to keep our energy up and utilize what’s working. Like if the post is going well that game we need to keep feeding it,” said Phillips. “We just have to do what’s going well for our team and we have to use our strong suits and less turnovers for everybody.”