Preview: Fort Wayne South Side Archers vs. Lakeland Lakers
The Fort Wayne South Side Archers will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against the Lakeland Lakers at 8:00 a.m. on December 23rd. Given that both teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 56-23, which was the final score in Fort Wayne South Side's tilt against Pike on Saturday. While losing is never fun, Fort Wayne South Side can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 306th, while Pike is ranked 88th).
Meanwhile, this season hasn't been kind to Lakeland, who are still winless after their 13th match. They fell 61-54 to Westview on Tuesday.
Olivia Oman put forth a good effort for the losing side as she scored 22 points. Those 22 points set a new season-high mark for her. Another player making a difference was Katelyn Ryan, who scored ten points.
Even though they lost, Lakeland were working as a unit and finished the game with 11 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Fort Wayne South Side bumped their record down to 2-10 with that defeat, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 25.7 points per game. As for Lakeland, their loss dropped their record down to 0-13.
Fort Wayne South Side was taken down by Lakeland 58-24 in their previous matchup back in December of 2022. The matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Fort Wayne South Side was down 36-8.
