DEERFIELD — Bella Pitta led all scorers with 14 points, Emily Wollin chipped in 12 and Lake Mills pushed its win streak to five games with a 56-31 road victory over Deerfield in nonconference girls basketball on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The third-ranked L-Cats (14-2) trailed in the early going before eventually building a 22-16 halftime edge. Pitta hit a pair of second-half 3s as Lake Mills grew its advantage. Ryleigh Kulow added eight points and Sydney Burling scored seven for Lake Mills, which surrendered just five second-half field goals to the Demons (12-3).
“Deerfield is a quality team and they played good defense,” Lake Mills girls basketball coach Ryan Lind said. “Deerfield got out to a lead early on. Credit to our girls, we stayed the course. We kind of fought back — and much like the girls did last Friday versus Lodi — got the lead by halftime.
“We got super high quality minutes from Ryleigh. Bella picked up her second foul in the first half. Ryleigh got key baskets to give us the lead. Kenzie Nielsen was a spark and phenomenal off the bench. Her confidence went way up tonight, which was outstanding to see.
“Emily continues to be a staple on our team, handling the ball and guarding one of their better players. Sydney and Jenna Hosey always get tough assignments on defense. Everyone contributed tonight in some way and the girls just kind of powered through, kept getting good shots and playing good defense. Eventually, our shots started going in.”
The L-Cats play at ninth-ranked Columbus on Thursday in a battle between the current Capitol North co-leaders.
