Glen Lake girls basketball is officially underway as the Lakers started their 2023-24 campaign against St. Francis on Tuesday.
The Lakers (1-0) continued where they left off last season after winning the second state championship in school history with a 36-32 win over the Gladiators (0-1) on Tuesday.
Glen Lake freshman Lydia Fosmore stole the show and let her presence be known after scoring 17 points to help the team earn their first win of the season, and her father Brad Fosmore, first win as Glen Lake girls basketball coach.
“We’ve been working hard in practices so it really paid off in this game,” Lydia Fosmore said. “(Beating St. Francis) was awesome. I’m grateful to have (my dad) as my coach.”
The Gladiators had a 13-6 lead in the first quarter and led at halftime 16-13. The Lakers stormed out in the third quarter and scored 14 points to take a big enough lead to fend off St. Francis.
“I was proud of our girls for how they responded. We had to gear down defensively and that’s what we did,” Glen Lake coach Brad Fosmore said. “I had great senior leadership with Ava, Eleanore , and Elodia. They are showing somebody like Lydia the freshman that you have to go out there and step up.”
Fosmore earned his first win as coach.
The Gladiators knew they had to take away Glen Lake’s dominant inside game, which allowed the door open for one of Glen Lake’s guards to have a game to remember.
Lydia played well down the stretch hitting 8-of-13 free throws to ice the game for Glen Lake.
Glen Lake junior Jessie Pugh dropped 13 points while Haley Anderson, Eleanor Valkner, and Grace Noonan scored baskets.
The Lakers will have to rely on a senior heavy team, younger players stepping up, and a new coach in 2023-24 to stay on top of the mountain.
“We just want to stay composed and keep working as a team. If one play doesn’t work, we just have to reset it up and do another play. Never lose faith,” Valkner said.
Peplinski is excited for the opportunity despite having a different look to the team this year.
“I know that we are capable of a lot and these girls are strong-willed and we are going to get through this and we’re going to make it fun,” Peplinski said. “The transition has been good because most of us played two years ago together so we all know what our dynamic is. We are all pretty good at figuring out what our role is going to be and how we are going to compensate for losing Maddie Bradford and Ruby Hogan.”
For Raymond, she is focused on attacking the season one day, practice, and game at a time.
“Taking it one game at a time and not looking too far into the future,” Raymond said. “Staying with what’s right in front of us and meshing as a team because there’s new girls. I’m looking forward to being together as a team.”
Glen Lake went 26-2 last season and took no prisoners in the MHSAA Division 4 girls basketball state championships leading all the way to the promised land.
The Lakers will have to replace the production left by Gemma Lerchen, Olivia Mikowski, Maddie Bradford, Ruby Hogan, among others.
“These first six games, we are just trying to get better every game, every day ... It’s going to be a tough stretch, we are just going to try and do our best,” coach Fosmore said. “We are still going to play fast like they always have done, but it’s new terminology so they’ve had a lot thrown at them and they accepted it well.”
Fosmore will represent the Lakers in 2023-24 after Jason Bradford moved to a varsity boys assistant job.
“We’ve got a lot of freshmen coming in and it’s good. (The seniors) took them and showed them the ropes,” Fosmore said.
The Lakers move on to matchups against Elk Rapids, and Frankfort.
