WIESBADEN, Germany – Lakenheath’s Hailey Buchanan came over to coach Vicki Painter early during the Lancers’ opening matchup against Wiesbaden on Friday night.

The Lancers didn’t score until the 3-minute mark with a Britain Gonzales putback. Buchanan struggled from the field despite having a few good looks from beyond the arc.

Her coach had just one message: believe.

“Our kids have been working on confidence,” Painter said. “It was her, Hailey Buchanan, who came out and shot two back-to-back 3s. I’m like, ‘There you go, you’re doing fine. You got to believe in yourself.’”

Those two 3-pointers came in the final 1:33 of the first quarter and sparked a big run in what proved to be a big result. The Lancers defeated the Warriors 53-41 at Wiesbaden High School.

Lakenheath (1-0, 1-0) finished the first half on a 30-4 run to take an 18-point advantage into the break.

The sputtering beginning had been forgotten by that point. The Lancers were enjoying themselves so much on the court that their coach had to remind them to play defense instead of celebrating after making a shot.

It’s hard to blame them, as the Lancers eventually held a 26-point lead in the second half.

“I was talking to one of our girls after the game, ‘When was the last time Lakenheath scored 50 points in a game?’” Painter said. “I don’t even know when the last time that was. I know it’s been a long time for these girls to have experienced that. I think that this will be a confidence builder.”

Buchanan, a senior, built up the team’s self-belief with three 3-pointers in the first half for her only points of the game.

Then stepped in Solymar Brown. The junior transfer from Ramstein dropped all 21 of her points in the final three frames, also connecting on three shots from beyond the arc in the second half.

Senior A’Lydia McNeal and junior Gonzales proved to be a handful on the inside for the Warriors (0-1, 0-1), with McNeal totaling nine points and grabbing seven rebounds and Gonzales posting a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.

“Me and (Buchanan), we work very well together,” Brown said. “I hope that this lasts throughout the whole season. I think it can.”

If Lakenheath expects to have success this season, it may need to rely on Brown and Buchanan heavily.

Following next weekend’s home games vs. Kaiserslautern, both McNeal and Gonzales are moving. So, the Lancers will have to go back to the drawing board during the holiday break.

“That’s going to be a loss for sure, but we’ll recalibrate and try to get some wins after that,” Painter said. “It’s good to get a strong start with them.”

Warriors coach Kristin Kachmar is not hitting the panic button.

The defending European Division I champions have an almost completely new squad, and they dealt with foul trouble in the second quarter.

Wiesbaden did come back starting early in the fourth quarter, eventually pulling to within 12 with 17 seconds remaining.

Kariyah Housey, who sat most of the second quarter with two fouls, paced Wiesbaden with 12 points. Freshman Keyoni Green chipped in with 10.

“In the locker room, I said, ‘I’m proud of you, but why are we waiting until the last 5 minutes to play basketball?’” Kachmar said. “That just shows right there how much potential the team does have and how we can overcome this.”

Boys

Wiesbaden 51, Lakenheath 38: Wiesbaden coach David Brown was baffled early during his team’s victory.

After going up eight points over the first 4 minutes of the game, the Warriors (1-0, 1-0) found themselves trailing when Lancer David Kumi-Baah scored on a fast-break layup early in the second quarter.

“100 percent first-game jitters, the boys were nervous,” Brown said. “It threw me off a little bit because we’ve got guys that have played before, but what I was most impressed with was even though we were nervous, we locked in on defense.”

That defense was a bright spot. The Lancers (0-1, 0-1) shot 21 percent from the field and only eclipsed double-digit points in one quarter – the fourth.

That effort allowed the Warriors to get going offensively, as they finished going 20-of-52 from the field.

“There’s some things we definitely need to work on, but a great way to open the season,” said Jordan Thibodeaux, who amassed a team-high 18 points. “Everybody was involved.”

Seven Warriors made the scoresheet, although only Thibodeaux reached double figures.

Forwards Hayden Tallant and Teagan McConville did corral double-digit rebounds with 15 and 11 respectively. The senior Tallant had his most success on the boards in the second half, when he recorded 11.

The Warriors also made it a priority to attack the bucket. Brown said they wanted to test the new rules, which got rid of 1-and-1s and go straight to two free throws when teams hit five fouls during a quarter.

Wiesbaden also dished passes to its post players off those drives as they became open.

“As the bigger team, that’s just intelligent basketball,” Thibodeaux said. “I think that was the best option we had, getting our big guys in it, having them confident, having them ready to score.”

For first-year coach Mitchell Judah, the result wasn’t what he wanted. But he couldn’t fault his players’ effort.

And he won’t complain about most of the attempts from the floor. The Lancers had plenty of open looks.

Dante Thompson paced Lakenheath with a game-high 21 points.

“I don’t agree with every shot that we took, but I do agree with a lot of them,” Judah said. “Any other night, they may have fallen down and it would have been totally different.”

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