The Lakewood girls freshman basketball team overcame limited numbers on its roster to post a 10-10 record that included a pair of forfeit wins against Fairview and Brush. This break-even mark was made possible by Lakewood's winning four of the last five games, including the last two against Northeast Ohio Conference foes Medina and Mayfield.

The Rangers, coached by Jim Stahlheber and assisted by his daughter, Annie, who played with Lakewood's state semifinal team in 1995, concluded the season with eight players in uniform.
"The mark of a good team is to improve as the season goes along and to do better against opponents who you have already played," said Stahlheber.

"This year we did not lose a game to a team we beat in the first round. Considering the ever-changing roster and illness, that is a good thing," he added. "I would like to play the Valley Forge, Parma and Elyria games again and I bet we would win all three this time around," he said of teams the Rangers played just once.

The Rangers lost those three games by a combined total of 13 points, including a 30-29 setback to Valley Forge.

Offensively, the Rangers relied on three players much of the time. Mary Shannon led with 13.2 points per game followed by Brooke Williams at 6.1 and Kelsie Smith at 5.7. The trio took 55 percent of the Rangers' shots with each of the three shooting over 30 percent from the floor.

Chairwoman of the boards was Williams, who had 116 for the year with Shannon coming in second at 99. Shannon, the tallest of the Ranger freshman at 5'9", also made it to the free throw line more than any other Lakewood player, shooting a team-best 59 percent off 78 tries.
Missy Richardson led the back-court for the Rangers, adjusting to a move to point guard and leading the team with 22 assists. Richardson, one of three Rangers to play in all 18 games along with Williams and Samantha Cross, also paced Lakewood with 42 steals while averaging 3.2 points per contest.

Peggy Sue Johnson was solid on the boards for the Rangers with 5.0 boards per contest. Johnson played 13 games with a 3.5 points per game average and also started for the junior varsity team, She has been solid on the boards for the Rangers with 5.0 boards per contest.

Williams showed improvement throughout the season and was very effective for Lakewood, getting steals off the back-end of the Ranger press on defense and worked well on the give and go play on offense with Richardson and Shannon.

Smith's physical play in the low post play for the Rangers proved valuable, as she collected 72 rebounds and added 28 steals.

Leah Ellins played in 15 games with a 1.3 points per game average and showed good fundamentals with quick hands that provided 25 steals.

Cross came off the bench and had 11 steals while adding 1.0 rebound per game. Another player off the bench was Tiffany Fisher, who scored 1.2 points and nearly one steal per game contest.

Emmalee Reinhart missed much of the season with a stress fracture and had limited minutes in the four games she did play.

Before being called up to the varsity team over Christmas break, Christine Bruno shot 37 percent from the field and scored 7.6 points per game in seven contests, averaging 4.9 boards each time out. Coach Stalhheber was pleased to say they learned to play basketball and learned to play better as a team. Lakewood can expect much from this Freshman class next season.