Playoff Look Ahead: Lakeland
In the semi-final round of the NJCAA Great Lakes District A, the Schoolcraft women's basketball team will face off against the #20 Lakeland Lakers. Lakeland is currently in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference and is a region 12 team, like the Ocelots. The Great Lakes District is broken up into 3 tournaments (A,B, and C). The winner of each tournament moves on to the national tournament (March 21-25). The Great Lakes District A tournament is being played at Mott Community College. Tip-off for Schoolcraft vs Lakeland is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Live stats will be available at schoolcraftocelots.com
How We Got Here:
15 Schoolcraft (#3 seed) defeated Oakland Community College (#4 seed) on Tuesday (March 7) in the quarter-final round by a score of 63-48. Lakeland recevied an automatic bye to the semi-final round for winning the OCCAC with a conference record of 9-1. Overall, Lakeland has a 21-3 record and is currently ranked the #20 team in the country.
The Numbers:
Over 23 games, the Ocelots are currently averaging 66.9 PPG, they are shooting the ball with a 42.1% from the field, 25.3% from 3 and 62.5% from the free throw line. #4 Eve Parrish is Schoolcraft's leading scorer with 11.8 PPG. 3 other Ocelots are averaging double-digit points per game, #11 Hunter Conway (11.6), #12 Ruby Garner (11.6), and #24 Makaiya Thomas (10.1). Defense is the key for the Ocelots and has been all year. Schoolcraft is currently holding opponents to 53.3 PPG, 34.4% from the field, and 28.1% from 3. To continue that defensive effort, Schoolcraft averages 12.2 steals per game and 4.6 blocks per game. The glass is where Schoolcraft might be able to control the game, the Ocelots currently have a 13.0 rebound margain per game where Lakeland currently sits at a -1.0 margain per game.
Lakeland has played 24 games on the 2022-23 season. The Lakers are averaging 71.3 PPG on 37.3% from the field, 20.5% from 3 and 57.9% from the free throw line. #34 Madison Fueger is the leading scorer for the Lakers with 16.0 PPG. 3 other Lakers are averaging double-digit points per game, #1 Zion Fussell (11.4), #2 Lauren Perry (15.8) and #23 Gianna Pegoraro (11.3). Like the Ocelots, the Lakers have active hands on defense as well, Lakeland is currently averaging 17.7 steals per game and also, 2.6 blocks per game. Fueger is the player to watch for Lakeland as she is also the Lakers leading rebounder with 10.1 rebounds per game, meaning, she is currently averaging a double-double a game.
The winner of this game will move on to face the winner of the other semi-final game, Mid Michigan College vs Ancilla College's Marian University. The championship game is played on Saturday (March 11) at 3:00 p.m.