Casey Burr tallied 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals for New Miami, which topped visiting Clark Montessori 39-29 in Miami Valley Conference Gray Division play.
“We’re playing with two juniors that have the experience of a freshman, and the rest of them are either freshmen or sophomores,” Lakes said. “We certainly have a lot of work to do, but I know we’ve got girls who are willing to be coached, and my goodness they play hard.
“We’ve probably put ourselves in pretty good position to come in third on our side of the league. From where we came from, that’s pretty good. If we have a good summer, I think we can close the gap on some of the better teams in our conference.”
Allison Rapier collected seven points, nine boards and five steals for the Vikings, who are 5-9 overall and 3-5 in the MVC.
“I definitely think we’re a lot higher than people expected this year,” said Burr, a sophomore guard. “As long as we stick together and keep working hard, the future should be good.”
New Miami played a large chunk of the contest without top scorer and rebounder Alyssa Robinette (14.7 ppg, 9.8 rpg). She fouled out midway through the third period with just six points and one board.
“I thought we showed some mental toughness today,” Lakes said. “We’ve got a long way to go to be good basketball players, but we’re a team of fighters. I’m very proud of these girls.”
It wasn’t always pretty — the Vikings had 34 turnovers, the Cougars 31 — but New Miami erased a 3-0 deficit with 10 straight points and never trailed again.
Samantha Gray contributed five points and nine rebounds for the hosts. Teammate Morgan Rogers hit two key baskets, one being a 3-pointer, early in the fourth period.
Rogers finished with six points and seven boards in the rough, physical contest.
“That’s just kind of how they play, and when they play that way, we try to bring the heat too,” Burr said. “They’re one of our biggest rivals.”
The hard-driving Burr was on the floor constantly and appeared to be hurt several times, yet continued to play.
“I’m all bruised up. That’s pretty normal for me,” Burr said. “I just take a lot of medicine afterwards, get a good night’s sleep and work hard the next game.”
Janszen Lewis paced Clark (3-11, 1-8) with eight points. Arielle Coleman had seven points and 16 rebounds, and Armani Johnson added 11 caroms.
New Miami hosts Middletown Christian on Tuesday.
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