The Lyle/Pacelli (1-7, 1-3) girls' basketball team looked as if it was on its way to picking up its first win of the Randolph Tournament and only their second win of the season, but L/P ran out of gas in the fourth quarter allowing host Randolph (2-6, 0-4) to come from behind and take the game away from them, 60-45.

Despite trailing the Rockets 16-11 at the end of the first quarter, the Lyle/Pacelli girls fought their way back in the second to come within one point at the half.

L/P came out strong in the third quarter, and at one time held a 30-25 lead over Randolph, but the Rockets powered on and trailed 37-36 at the end of the third quarter. Randolph went on to outscore L/P 24-8 in the final quarter to send Lyle/Pacelli to its eighth loss of the season.

"We let the game slip away from us tonight," said L/P coach Craig Smith. "The girls got a little tired at the end and settled for shooting long shots instead of attacking the basket. Randolph continued to work the inside and it paid off for them."

Kate Boisjolie and Louise Mudra led L/P in scoring, each having 11 points on the night. Teammate Anna Hebrink chipped in 10. Lindsay Halbach contributed six of her own, while Laura Christopherson netted three. Kristina Hollerud and Rebecca Mino each had two points.

Lyle/Pacelli continued tournament play on Saturday afternoon against New Life Academy of Woodbury.

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Lions devour Superlarks

The Grand Meadow girls' basketball team knew it had its work cut out for them when they hosted 6-1 Spring Grove Friday night. The Lions (4-0) were undefeated in the Southeast Conference and trailed by only one game to the conference leader Lanesboro.

Spring Grove showed its on-court ability by executing a 17-1 first quarter run that the Superlarks never recovered from. The Lions took a 22-5 lead into the second quarter and a 35-14 advantage into the intermission.

Grand Meadow was able to do some things offensively in the second half but could not close the gap.

"I saw some improvement in the second half," said GM coach Mike Norton. "We earned 23 of our points in the last half against their starters. I'm very pleased with the girls effort tonight."

Cassie Fay led the Superlarks in scoring with 14 points, and teammate Nickole Stier netted six points and had five rebounds and five blocks for the night.

The Superlarks will host Medford on Jan. 3 in a non-conference matchup.

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L-O ends first half winless

Once again the LeRoy-Ostrander girls' basketball team had to contend with being outsized on the court when they played host to Houston on Friday night. The end result was another disappointing loss to Southeast Conference rival Hurricanes by the score of 69-43.

Houston, who had only two wins on the season -- one of them a conference game -- was looking to try to keep from slipping further down in the conference standings. LeRoy-Ostrander was looking to climb its way out of last place and find itself grouped with Lyle/Pacelli, Grand Meadow, and Houston going into the holiday recess with one SEC win apiece.

The Hurricanes jumped out to an early four-point first-quarter lead and managed to stretch it to 10 points at the half. Houston continue to distance itself from the Cardinals in the third and fourth quarters to post their second conference win of the season.

"We were pretty much at their mercy," said LeRoy-Ostrander coach Bob Anderson. "They controlled the inside of the court with their size."

Vicky Nolt led the Cardinals with 24 points. Houston's Shantel Erickson and Tina Mensink paced their team with 20 and 19 point respectively.

LeRoy-Ostrander will rest up for the holidays and take to the court on Jan. 7, when they will host a non-conference game against Dover-Eyota at 7 p.m.

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