Stys, Kuzma lead Lakers to victory over Golden Bears

BY YANEEK SMITH, BEACON CONTRIBUTOR

DANBURY TWP. — Noah Stys and Ian Kuzma scored 19 points apiece to lead Danbury, which eked out a 61-57 victory over Gibsonburg.

“Both players came up big for us. Ian is a rock for us down low and had a big game,” said Danbury coach Nate Keller. “Noah really stepped up and had a nice floor game by getting to the basket and finishing. It was the best game of Noah’s career.”

The Lakers (2-3, 1-1 SBC River) trailed, 13-10, at halftime but rallied to take a 23-21 lead into the half. Danbury increased its lead to 39-33 after three quarters.

The win was the Lakers’ first in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division play.

“I was proud of our guys for coming through with a tough league win,” Keller said. “Gibsonburg’s press gave us trouble and we turned the ball over too much, but we were able to make some plays down the stretch to pull out the win.”

Gibsonburg (1-5, 0-2 SBC River) got a game-high 20 points from Jake Foster and Theo Hernandez scored 13 points.

Laker girls fall to Lakota, 61-50

Lakota jumped out to an early led and never looked back in its 61-50 victory over Danbury.

The Raiders led, 24-5, after one quarter before Danbury (3-4) slowly started to creep back. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as Lakota held on for the victory.

“Lakota came out and played with a purpose. We did not match that excitement in the first half,” said Danbury coach Dick Heller. But we did step it up in the second half and played more of our game. We need to play that way for a whole game.”

Aliza Dauterman and Alexa Gabel scored 18 points apiece to lead the Raiders. Kalee Rakosky scored 13 points for the Lakers and Grace Hollenbeck chipped in with 12.

Northwood 43, Danbury 40

A defensive struggle ended with Northwood coming out with a 43-40 victory over Danbury.

The Lakers led, 17-4, after the first quarter before the Rangers rallied to take the lead. Northwood cut the deficit to 22-21 at halftime and 29-27 after three quarters before taking the lead for good in the fourth.

“Northwood did a great job of playing hard the entire game,” said Danbury coach Dick Heller. “They bounced back after a shaky first quarter. Our girls played hard the entire game but we did not shoot very well.”

Kirsten Stacy led the Rangers with 12 points and Olivia Randall chipped in with 11. Olivia Valenti scored 11 points to lead the Lakers and Maddie Harris chipped in with seven.

Danbury 53, Gibsonburg 41

Kalee Rakosky led all scorers with 20 points as Danbury rallied from an early deficit to defeat Gibsonburg, 53-41, in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division play.

The Lakers trailed, 13-12, after one quarter but took a 21-18 lead in the half and put the game away by winning the third quarter 17-10 to take a 10-point lead in the fourth.

“Our girls came out and played very physical and very focused. We played very well as a team,” said Danbury coach Dick Heller. “Gibsonburg played very hard and never game up. They continued to battle use for the entire game.”

Kayla Rodriguez chipped in with 11 points to help lead Danbury.

Emily Roberts scored 10 points to lead the Golden Bears.

Danbury 45, E. Christian 18

Danbury jumped out to an early lead and made easy work of Emmanuel Christian, defeating the Warriors, 45-18.

“It was a good win for our girls,” said Danbury coach Dick Heller. “They played very hard and stayed focus. We need to continue to improve both defensively and offensively.”

Eight Lakers scored, and Kalee Rakosky led the team with 11 points. Kayla Rodriguez chipped in with seven.

Maddie Miller had 11 points to lead E.C.