By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Lausanne Lady Lynx saw the winning record of their opponents the Tipton-Rosemark Academy Lady Rebels coming into the Dec. 16 showdown.
The TRA Gymnasium scoreboard reading 5-5 early in the first quarter validated the good start of the Lady Rebels to the 2025-26 season. The Lady Lynx locked in and started to make outside shots.
Simultaneously the TRA field goal attempts came back voided leading to a 21-6 advantage for Lausanne by the end of the opening period. The trend continued for most of the game leading to the Lady Lynx prevailing 67-27.
“The last four years we have not been 6-5 heading into break,” TRA Head Coach Bryant Wilkinson said. “There has been some improvement. We have a lot of young girls with some of them sick right now or injured. We were down to six tonight.”
The weakened Lady Rebels erased a 5-0 deficit with a triple from Allie Nicholas and a floater from Jayden Hoy.
The Lady Lynx proceeded with a 16-1 run to close the quarter including Juanita Duffy driving to the lane for a layup. Another Lausanne standout during the rally was Ava Hill making a drive to the basket for points.
Duffy added a triple and her closing bucket made the score 21-6.
Lausanne led 32-10 at halftime behind playing tough defense and offensive contributions from guards Elsie Reaves and Kayla Evans.
TRA started to get into more of an offensive rhythm in the third quarter matching the first half output with 10 points.
“They’re starting to figure it out among each other, figuring out how to communicate to each other,” Wilkinson explained. “That was a big emphasis for our team this year — how do you communicate and how do you execute when things aren’t going right. So they’re trying to figure each other out. I am proud of them because they are a tough team. They hit a lot of three and that’s something we haven’t seen so far.”
The Lady Rebels outscored Lausanne 17-13 in the fourth quarter. Wilkinson said the second half illustrates the positive trend of the Lady Rebel program and building chemistry will boost it even more.
“We have to find our roles, which is the biggest thing,” he said. “Then we have to accept our roles and then grow in those roles. Right now we’re still trying to feel each other out.
“Who is the shooter,” he concluded. “Who’s the ball handler? Does Zadie need to move others a little bit? When is the time for Malin? That’s our biggest thing right now adjusting to our roles.”
