St. Clair Shores

Rebounding key to Lake Shore girls basketball team’s season

By Jason Carmel Davis
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Sean Work After starting 4-4, the St. Clair Shores Lake Shore girls basketball team has gone 8-1 and has raced to the top of the MAC Gold. Pictured is Shorians junior forward Carly Vargo (11) during a Feb. 12 win over Marine City. Photo by Sean Work After starting 4-4, the St. Clair Shores Lake Shore girls basketball team has gone 8-1 and has raced to the top of the MAC Gold. Pictured is Shorians junior forward Carly Vargo (11) during a Feb. 12 win over Marine City.

ST. CLAIR SHORES — St. Clair Shores Lake Shore girls basketball coach Jimmy Roehm admitted his team isn’t the best shooting squad around.

The Shorians make up for that lack of accuracy by being strong on the offensive glass, getting second possessions about a third of the time, and averaging about 18 offensive rebounds and 60 shots per game, according to Roehm.

“It’s something that we work on a lot every day in practice,” Shorians junior forward Carly Vargo said. “It’s an effort thing, and we don’t want anybody to give a better effort than us.”

Roehm said several of his players are adept and chasing down loose balls off misses. Getting second chances on offense is crucial for Lake Shore, which averaged 49.8 points per game at press time — good for 10th in the 36-team Macomb Area Conference.

“We’ve been getting better in the halfcourt offensive sets as the season’s gone along,” said Roehm, in his sixth year with the Shorians. “Getting those offensive rebounds has been great for us because it, obviously, gives us more looks at the basket.”

“Our smaller players are even going to the boards for us,” Vargo said. “They’re not scared to get into the paint and mix it up, and our post players do a great job of boxing out.”

The Shorians, 12-5, 8-1 MAC Gold at press time, are in a battle for the MAC Gold title with Marysville and Mount Clemens High. Lake Shore and Marysville were tied for first at press time, with Mount Clemens sitting a game off the lead.

The Shorians have come on after a 4-4 start that had Roehm searching for answers. He said his team lacked poise and composure on the floor, and committed several turnovers.

“We’ve done a lot to turn things around,” Roehm said. “We’ve got the turnovers down. We’re better on defense, and we’ve got a lot of girls who want to get out there and contribute.”

Vargo leads the charge with 11.9 points per game. Senior Sydney Morgan, a four-year varsity player, is second on the team with 10 points per game.

“It’s great that we’ve been able to play so well lately,” Vargo said. “You want to have everything going well at this point in the season.”

Lake Shore wraps up the regular season with a big matchup against Marysville, set for 6 p.m. Feb. 22 at Lake Shore.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Jason Carmel Davis at jdavis@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1107. Follow Jason Carmel on Twitter.