Tiger girls defeat No. 6 Waseca at Breakdown

The Lake City Tigers girls’ basketball team was looking to get back on the winning track at the Rochester Civic Center Saturday in the Breakdown event when they took on the  No. 6 Class AA ranked Waseca Bluejays at the arena.  The Tigers went home winners 54-34.  
The Tigers started out strong and Lilly Meincke got things started with a 3-point shot.  Lake City then stole the ball and Natalie Bremer drove to the basket, made the shot, was fouled and went to the line for a 3-point play, getting Lake City off to a quick six point lead.  
Waseca got on the board with a couple of free throws.   
The Tigers were able to find Mya Shones on the inside for a couple of quick baskets and took a 10-4 lead, forcing a Waseca timeout with 14:10 to go in the first half.  
Bremer stole the ball and drove to the basket with a nice pass to Paige West for two, giving the Tigers a 16-9 lead.  Waseca took their second timeout.  
Lake City continued to keep the defensive pressure on the Bluejays, causing them to either turn the ball over or to shoot off the mark.
Lake City went into the locker room ahead 28-19.              Waseca started the second half with a couple of quick baskets and pulled within four. The Tigers responded and increased their lead to 13 with baskets from Meincke and West.   
The Tigers kept up the great defensive pressure from Jacey Majerus and West.  Lake City got  more steals and converted them into points. With 7:57 left to go in the game the Tigers led 48-31.  
Paige West made her first varsity start against Waseca. West was a key player in this game keeping the pressure on the Waseca guards. She had a career high of 10 points, three rebounds and four assists. Lilly Meincke had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists, Mya Shones had 10 points and four rebounds, Natalie Bremer led the team with 20 points, four rebounds, five assists and seven steals, Grace Bany had seven rebounds and six blocks.
The Tigers were 9 of 10 from the line and Waseca was 10 of 12.
The Tigers are now 9-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play.   
Coach Clay Olstad said, “We played tough on defense and the team did a great job shutting Waseca down.  The Tigers have a busy week coming up, Monday they traveled to Chatfield, Tuesday they hosted Byron, Friday they will host Zumbrota and Saturday they will travel to Kasson to take on Norwood Young America.”