Lake Holcombe overcome by fearsome Pirates squad

Lake Holcombe sophomore Megan Paff didn’t let a Gilman defender stop her from going after a loose ball Feb. 20, as the Chieftains hosted the first round of the Regional playoffs. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

With a slightly higher No. 8 seed, the Lake Holcombe girls basketball program hosted No. 9 Gilman for a firstround playoff game Feb. 20. The Chieftains beat Gilman earlier in the year, but a hit a rough patch toward the end of the regular season, which carried over into the postseason.

“We had injuries and some illness running through our team, and it was just unfortunate to not be at full strength for our final game,” said coach Chris Clark.

Lake Holcombe came out strong, keeping pace with the Pirates, but started to falter as halftime drew near. Coming out of the break, Gilman poured on the scoring, as fouls added up for the Chiefs and they lost their senior leader Emma Lechleitner, to foul trouble.

“Emma gave us another solid performance in her final game, just like she did all year,” said Clark. “She brought a lot to this team and will be missed next year.”

The Chieftains never gave up, but time ran out on them and the match went to Gilman, 63-38, ending Lake Holcombe’s year.

“It was a tough game and a tough way for our season to come to an end,” said Clark.

Lechleitner ended the game with 20 points, followed by sophomore Megan Paff, with 7, and junior Chloe Lee, who had 4. Freshman Katya Kuc added 3 points and freshman Payton Birkenholz came away with 2.

“We had a good season and accomplished a lot of the things we wanted to accomplish,” said Clark, “and we just want to keep improving, see some growth from our girls in the off-season and see what we can do this next year.”