Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes grabs road win at Cranbrook Kingswood

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes looked unbeatable early in Friday’s CHSL girls basketball game, jumping out to a 14-2 lead, but Cranbrook Kingswood was not intimidated. The Cranes fought and scrapped. However, the Lakers were just too much for them.

Our Lady of the Lakes emerged as the 45-36 winner in a Catholic League C-D game at Cranbrook Kingswood on Friday night.

Our Lady of the Lakes is now 4-4 and 3-0 in conference play.

“We had a nice start to the game. I thought we did some good things defensively and made a couple shots but really throughout most of the second quarter if not more, we got stagnant, we missed some easy shots,’’ Lakers coach Steve Robak said. “When you don’t see the ball go in you start second guessing, Cranbrook played real hard, kind of worked themselves back in the game.’’

It was the second straight loss for Cranbrook (6-3, 1-2) after they fell to Bishop Foley on Wednesday night.

“I was expecting a competitive game out of my team and they rose to the occasion. They couldn’t pull it out at the end,’’ Cranes coach Matt Fortescue said. “We’re a young team and I’m happy with the stride that they made tonight. We’re going to take that as a positive.’’

Sophomore Brooklyn Robak scored 10 of the Lakers’ first 14 points, helping Lakes take a 14-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“Brooklyn did a real nice job, she does a terrific job on the inside of that zone for us. I was pretty happy overall with the start of the game,’’ said Robak, Brooklyn’s uncle.

The Cranes narrowed the gap in the second quarter and could have made it closer but they missed five straight free throws to start the second stanza. Lakes held a 20-12 lead at the half.

Then in the third quarter with Lakes holding a slim 24-20 lead, Lakers junior Isabelle Kline had the hot hand, scoring three 3-pointers and two twos to expand the lead to 37-26 early in the fourth quarter.

“(In the third) Brooklyn picked up two fouls back-to-back which really hurt us, so we had to take her out. Isabelle really hadn’t made much in this game but she stepped up big-time,’’ Robak said.

Kline finished with a game-high 25 points with Robak contributing 13.

“Isabelle made some really important buckets, we were in a scoring drought and they had momentum. It was nice for her cause she’s been working real hard on her shot, things hadn’t been going real well the last couple games for her but the work paid off today. She had a nice game for us,’’ Robak added.

The Lakers played a tough early schedule which Robak said is paying dividends now.

Their depth was key in Friday’s win. Senior starter Sophia Hadash was unavailable with an injury and he lost two more players during the game when sophomore Aubree Kuhn rolled an ankle and sophomore Alexis Koenig aggravated her shoulder.

“We had girls come in and gave us great minutes. Really everyone that touched the floor as a sub gave us tremendous minutes,’’ Robak said.

“We’re way down the bench right now that’s why I’m happy with the win,’’ Robak said.

Our Lady of the Lakes plays at Bishop Foley on Tuesday, while Cranbrook plays at Cardinal Mooney on Monday.

By Paula Pasche [email protected]; @paulapasche on Twitter

Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes grabs road win at Cranbrook Kingswood