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Lakenheath's Kristen Reed goes up for a layup and two points over an AFNORTH defender during the Lancers' 41-32 defeat Friday night at RAF Lakenheath, England. Reed finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals.

Lakenheath's Kristen Reed goes up for a layup and two points over an AFNORTH defender during the Lancers' 41-32 defeat Friday night at RAF Lakenheath, England. Reed finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals. (David Hodge/Stars and Stripes)

Lakenheath's Kristen Reed goes up for a layup and two points over an AFNORTH defender during the Lancers' 41-32 defeat Friday night at RAF Lakenheath, England. Reed finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals.

Lakenheath's Kristen Reed goes up for a layup and two points over an AFNORTH defender during the Lancers' 41-32 defeat Friday night at RAF Lakenheath, England. Reed finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals. (David Hodge/Stars and Stripes)

AFNORTH's Nuri Karaca drives past Lakenheath's Brinsley Walker for a shot during Friday night's game at RAF Lakenheath, England. Karaca had nine points, four assists and three rebounds in the contest.

AFNORTH's Nuri Karaca drives past Lakenheath's Brinsley Walker for a shot during Friday night's game at RAF Lakenheath, England. Karaca had nine points, four assists and three rebounds in the contest. (David Hodge/Stars and Stripes)

AFNORTH's Jasmine Doll drives past a Lancer defender on her way to two of her 18 points in the Lady Lions' victory Friday night at RAF Lakenheath, England. Doll also had five steals and four assists in the contest.

AFNORTH's Jasmine Doll drives past a Lancer defender on her way to two of her 18 points in the Lady Lions' victory Friday night at RAF Lakenheath, England. Doll also had five steals and four assists in the contest. (David Hodge/Stars and Stripes)

RAF LAKENHEATH — Friday night action between the varsity teams from AFNORTH and Lakenheath left each school with something left to prove when DODDS-Europe Region I play continues Saturday.

The upset of the night was given to AFNORTH’s boys varsity team, which carried a perfect 7-0 record in Region before losing to the Lancers by a score of 47-43.

Good defense and average shooting by both teams kept the scoring low in the first half of play and Lakenheath led 22-19. But the second half started with the Lancers going on a 13-2 run.

The Lions began the fourth quarter with a 12-4 run. With about five minutes remaining, they pulled to within one point, but turnovers and missed shots stalled the scoring for several minutes. And AFNORTH never managed to pull even or take the lead.

With under a minute to play, Lakenheath’s Brinsley Walker hit two free throws to extend the lead to three and later added another free throw to seal the victory. Walker finished with 13 points, 19 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Lancer coach Alan Campbell told his team before the game that they had a tough opponent coming to play.

“When they punched us in the mouth we were able to hang on and outplay them in the final minutes,” Campbell said after the game. “We made it tougher than it should’ve been. AFNORTH does a great job and we managed to get a lead. I told them to get ready for the press, and we didn’t handle it well. We have to eliminate our mistakes, but we were taking decent shots.”

Things weren’t as close in the varsity girls’ game as AFNORTH bested the Lancers by a score of 41-32. The Lady Lions were led by Jasmine Doll, who finished the game with 18 points, five steals and four assists, while center Sara Sawyer had eight points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.

This game had significance too, according to D.C. McDonald, the AFNORTH girls coach. He said he figured SHAPE would take first place in the region, But he wants his team to get the highest seed possible for the DODDS-Europe championships Feb. 22-25 in Wiesbaden, Germany.

“Defensively, we were on top of our game,” McDonald said. “We got a couple of minor adjustments offensively, but what sets apart is our conditioning.”

He said his girls achieve their conditioning by focusing on basketball whenever they’re on the court. It’s their “32 O.C.” mindset, he said.

“It’s a saying we use,” McDonald explained. “It stands for 32 minutes of chaos.”

hodged@estripes.osd.mil

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