By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The girls varsity basketball team started their season at home against the Birmingham Seaholm Maples.

“We’ll compete hard. No guarantees on any game, obviously, but I expect if we put in plenty of effort we got a good chance of winning tonight,” said head coach Bob Brydges prior to the game.

It was a slow start for both teams with a tie score of 9-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams played a scrappy game receiving more than 10 fouls in the first half and Lake Orion continuing to be tough throughout the second half.

The ladies fought hard and extended their lead throughout the final three quarters and kept Seaholm from scoring more than 10 points in any of the four quarters.

The ladies finished their season opener with a final score of 48-25 and a dragon victory.

Senior Sophie Wyborski lead the team with 12 points, followed closely by Paytin Shadaia who scored 7 points along with playing fantastic defense to contribute 8 steals for the Dragons.

11 out of the 14 Lake Orion players were able to add to the score and skyrocketed them to a big home win.

Looking ahead into the season, the ladies hope to contend for the OAA White division title and to do well in districts. They’re looking forward to competing against Oxford this year, a team they will be playing twice. Though school rival Clarkston is not in their division or schedule this year, it is possible they could meet during districts.

“We basically are building a foundation this year. This is a program that’s been turned over and turned over and turned over and hasn’t had a winning season in quite a while,” Brydges said. “One thing I can say about this team is: they’re going to play for each other every night. They seem to get along really well and we’ll work hard every single night… I want this program to be a beacon for the younger kids. I want this to be a program that kids look at and say I want that, I want to be Sophie Wyborski, I want to be Megan Marshall or Paytin Shadaia or any of the other players on our squad. I want them to see us as a positive impact on the community as far as basketball for girls goes.”

The ladies next match up is against Midland on Wednesday in the Lake Orion Field House at 7 p.m.