Photo by Chris Drummond MCC Rebel Seanna Swenson (21) goes up and scores two of her 22 points on the night against two Lakeview Lakers defenders on Monday evening.

COTTONWOOD — The Murray County Central Rebels girls’ basketball team defeated the Lakeview Lakers 59-43 on Monday evening.

The Rebels came in using a strong inside to attack the Lakers’ aggressive press. Seanna Swanson led the Rebels in scoring and rebounds in the first half, having eight in both categories. Though the Rebels faced the Lakers’ press, they were able to break it consistently and earn easy baskets.

The Lakers would keep it close behind senior Korysa Herrick’s 9 points in the first half. They trailed by 5 points at the break, 33-28. The rebounding was the difference in the opening half, which the Rebels dominated giving them more opportunities to score. 

In the second half, the Rebels would break the game open by going inside to Swanson and hitting 3-point shots. The Lakers’ cold shooting only made matters worse and the Rebels would go up by as many as 22 points. Swanson finished with a game-high with 22 points and also had double-digit rebounds.

“I think we just worked really well as a team,” Swanson said. “We just looked for the open spots. As a team, we created great space and played really we together.”

The Rebels’ defense caused 22 turnovers and held the Lakers to just 16 second-half points.

“I thought towards the end of the first half we started to gain some momentum as both teams were trying to get their footing into the game,” Rebels head coach Lucas Freeman said. “We were able to keep that momentum in the second half and go on a run to be able to put it away. I’m proud of the girls that we were able to do that.” 

The Lakers have dropped their fourth contest of the season. They’ve had some promising first halves but weren’t able to sustain it in the second.

“I thought we started the game with a fair amount of energy, ” Lakers head coach Mike Imes said. “We shot the ball well in the first half, for ed some turnovers as well. In the second half, we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket and they hurt us in the transition.”

Herrick finished with 9 points and Aubreigh Rausch finished with a team-high 10 points. 

Lakeview Lakers will host the Canby Lancers today and the MCC Rebels will play Westbrook Walnut Grove today.