Aviano junior Alyssa Lane drives past Valerie Sasa of Mannheim during the second half of their Division II championship game Saturday at the Mannheim sports arena. Mannheim defeated Aviano 41-33. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
MANNHEIM, Germany — Mannheim ran hard on offense and played tough on defense to top Aviano 41-33 Saturday afternoon and win the DODDS-Europe Division II girls basketball championship.
The title is the Mannheim girls’ first since 2000 and the third in the school’s history.
Mannheim, playing before its home fans, concentrated on shutting down Aviano’s 5-foot-8 Alyssa Lane, who scored 30 points in the first half of a tournament game Friday.
“We just played hard and boxed out (Lane),” Mannheim’s Erica Wilson said.
“We kept the ball away from her. She wasn't going to win this game tonight.”
Lane finished with 21 points but was held to just four points in the first half Saturday, when Mannheim built up its lead.
Mannheim’s Valerie Sasa and Anaya Cook had strong performances. Sasa scored a team-high 17 points, and Cook had an outstanding game on both sides of the ball. The 5-1 Cook showed nice ball handling on offense and stole the ball numerous times on defense, particularly in the second quarter.
“We like to run,” said Cook, who scored eight points. “We did what we do best — run.”
The game got off to a slow start with Mannheim holding a 4-3 edge at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Bison relied on a full-court press to disrupt the Aviano scoring machine.
Mannheim stretched its lead to 18-9 at halftime, but it could have been much higher if the Lady Bison had made good on several close shots that didn’t fall.
Aviano came out with its own full-court press in the second half and threw a slight wrench in the Mannheim offense, but point guard Cook weathered it well.
On defense, Mannheim maintained its press and redoubled its efforts to thwart Lane.
“Pick up [No.] 21,” yelled Mannheim coach Adrian Crawford. The Lady Bison did, and even though Aviano picked up its scoring, Mannheim led 30-19 as the quarter ended
Late in the game, Aviano started fouling Mannheim frequently, hoping that the Lady Bison would miss their free throws. But Mannheim did not falter, going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes.
With seconds to go in the game and Mannheim’s victory apparent, Crawford had Cook approach him at the bench during Aviano free throws.
“I told her this is what all our hard work was for this season,” Crawford said.
See more photos from Saturday's tournament games here.
