“Overall, I think we played really good. I think we matched their [CMC’s] intensity, and we just kept with them the whole game,” Schmidt said. “We learned that we can keep up with them, because we are probably going to play them later in the season once, if not twice, so just knowing that we can keep up with this good of a team and in other games, too.”

Schmidt made her presence known in the paint from the start and was a dominant force throughout the night, often being the go-to look inside off CMC’s full-court press, along with cleaning up the offensive glass.

“I just want to play as tough as I can,” Schmidt said. “To not let [mistakes] affect me, and just play through the hand, and kick the ball out to my teammates.”

The night also showed to be a battle between Lakeview’s depth and CMC’s height.

Lakeview junior Reagan Bossuyt drives toward the basket in the second half against Central Minnesota Christian Friday night.

The Lakers have a lengthier roster with more players getting significant minutes in hopes to run opponents tired early, while the Bluejays had four players between 5-foot-10 and 6-foot. Schmidt is Lakeview’s tallest player at 6-foot-1.

Lakeview struggled with turnovers throughout the night, finishing with 27, but stayed within reach the entire game.

“I think we just needed to settle down a little bit,” Schmidt said regarding how the team managed turnovers. “We just got too fast, and just wanted to get into our offense, but I think we needed to slow it down and then that’s what we did.”

The Lakers came out with intensity on both ends of the court in the second half and eventually tied the score 58-58, after trailing by as many as 15 points in the first half, with 3:46 to go after Schmidt hit a pair of free throws along with a Stensrud steal and free throw.

CMC in return went on an 8-0 run to take back a 66-58 lead, and forced a 10-second violation on Lakeview for an extra offensive opportunity to drain the clock down to 1:58.

Lakeview senior Brynn Stensrud brings the ball up the court in the second half.

Schmidt kept Lakeview in the fight with a pair of free throws and another putback on the offensive end for a 68-62 deficit with just over a minute to play.

Although Stensrud hit a crucial and-1 along with the free throw to bring the Lakers within 69-65 seconds later, CMC was able to hang on for the win behind a string of late free throws.

Schmidt logged a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds to her 23 points, while Stensrud led the team from the perimeter shooting 4 for 9. Teagan Bossuyt had four steals on the night, while Brook Gunlogson added another 6 points.

“I thought this was exactly what we needed heading into the playoffs. You’re playing a state-ranked team, number one in our section now. It could have been easy for us to back down … There were a lot of highs and lows, but I thought we did a nice job, and I thought we did a real good job of holding our composure,” Lakeview head coach Mike Imes said. “They [CMC] changed the press up on us a little bit, and caused us some turnovers, but it was a great game to be a part of. Our crowd, again, was awesome. It’s just really fun to be in the gym with this group, they just work hard.”

Lakeview started on its comeback attempt bringing the score down to 5 points, 54-49, with nine minutes left with the help of two straight Stensrud 3-pointers from the same spot at the left wing, and a pair of Addy Jorgenson free throws.

Lakeview senior Jovie Benson goes up for a layup in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian.

Jovie Benson originally opened the second half with a 3 while Gunlogson followed that up with a fast break layup.

Particularly in the second half, Schmidt made a continuous effort to draw fouls inside and eventually helped put the Lakers in bonus with still five minutes to play. CMC senior Emmi Braem also fouled out with about seven minutes to go. Imes also credited Schimdt for her performance tonight, saying he was impressed with her battle in the paint throughout the night.

Imes also cited CMC’s height as a challenge for Lakeview throughout the night, but said the team still battled and Lakeview was able to earn points back with their speed in return.

The Lakers fought back from a 31-18 deficit in the first half as they began to find a rhythm in breaking the Bluejays’ press to eventually head into the half down by 9 points.

Schmidt hit back-to-back baskets in the paint along with two free throws early on to cut into a 19-15 deficit, while Stensrud followed that up shortly after with a spin and fade-away midrange jump shot.

Lakeview senior Brook Gunlogson begins to drive in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian Friday night.

CMC responded on a 6-0 run to build a 27-17 edge, yet Stensrud ended it with a field goal with just under four minutes to go in the first half.

“The [message at] pregame was, no matter what the score is at the end of the game, live with it but realize I have to give 110% tonight when we leave the gym, and I thought we did,” Imes said. “We laid everything out on the line … We tied it up, we had a couple chances to take the lead, we just didn’t get it done, but this is a perfect game to come [back to] around the first of February. These are the teams you’re going to be playing, and we hope to meet them again a couple more times.”

Setting up for section success

Lakeview and CMC have put together impressive 2025-26 season campaigns so far, and entered Friday with only five combined losses as the end of the regular season nears with less than a month to go.

The Bluejays move to 12-2 on the season following Friday, and Lakeview holds a 15-4 overall record.

As the Bluejays have as well, the Lakers have been picking up crucial section wins in hopes of obtaining a top-seed in the postseason.

With the exception of Friday’s loss to CMC, Lakeview’s three other losses came from opponents in other sections, but have otherwise grabbed wins over all other section teams so far. Notably, the Lakers came away with a 60-52 recent victory over MACCRAY on Jan. 15, last year’s Section 3A champions and state runners-up.

Next up

Lakeview (15-4) will next hit the road to face Yellow Medicine East (6-11) on Tuesday with a 7:30 p.m. tip off.