Both the Laker and Lady Laker Basketball teams were defeated in Friday night games.
The Lady Lakers hosted the Bell County Lady Cats in the season’s home opener, falling 66-46 to the three-time defending 52nd District champions.
The Lady Lakers fell behind early, but battled back to trim the lead to 28-22 at halftime. However, the Lady Cats took over in the third quarter, building the lead to 16 points going into the final quarter.
Turnovers once again plagued the Lady Lakers, who fell to 0-2 on the season with the loss.
Rachel Bolin led the Lady Lakers in scoring with 15 points on the night. Maleah Preston and Addy Abrell each added six, and Aniyah Coffey, Jaterria Coffey, and Addison Hart each finished with five points. Hannah Yates rounded out the scoring with four points.
Bolin also led the Lakers with 11 rebounds, followed by Preston and Yates with 7 each.
On the boys side, the Lakers went down-to-the-wire on the road against 4th Region foe Greenwood, falling 64-61.
The Lakers led at halftime, but the Gators battled back in the second half and took the lead in the final minute to get the win.
Trace Stringer and Braydon Cerrato led the scoring with 14 points each, followed by Owen Loy with 13. Maddox Shearer added 9, and Mayes Gosser added 8. Kaden Coffey finished the scoring with 3 points on the night.
Cerrato added 12 rebounds, making back-to-back double-doubles to start the season.
The Lakers are now 1-1 on the season.
The Lady Lakers will be back at home for a matchup against the Danville Lady Admirals on Tuesday with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
The Lakers will be back at home next Friday as part of a doubleheader with Pickett County High School in Tennessee.
