The Lakeland Christian Academy Cougars took on Christian Center of South Bend Tuesday. The boys basketball team lost 70-39, while the girls won 43-34.

Christian Center is the toughest opponent faced by the LCA boys this year. In an earlier meeting LCA lost by 50 points, giving up 46 turnovers. Tuesday evening the Cougars saw considerable improvement on that issue, turning the ball over only 18 times in the 70-39 losing effort.

"Christian Center is the best team on our schedule," LCA coach Dan Miller said.Ê

LCA could not get back on defense quickly enough and handed Christian Center many easy layups.Ê

"They were deep on the bench and their quickness and athleticism enabled them to simply kill us in the transition game," Miller said.

The Christian Center team had at least two starters on the court at all times. Christian Center connected on five three-pointers. For Christian Center Mike Turley turned in an outstanding performance, leading all scorers with 20 points, including 14 from the field and a perfect 6 of 6 night at the foul line.

As a team Christian Center shot 82 percent from the foul line. They put the game away in the third quarter with a 25-9 drubbing of LCA. In the big third quarter, Turley rained in 12 points to overpower the Cougars.Ê

However, Miller was pleased by his Cougars' effort, "especially in the fourth quarter," he said.Ê "Even when the game was out of reach, we still played hard."Ê Senior captain Jason Johnston was fighting illness but went out and worked hard on the boards, grabbing quite a few rebounds in the fourth quarter when LCA outscored Christian Center 15-10.

The top-scoring Cougar was Tyler Silveus with 15, including six in the fourth quarter.Ê Aaron Hood and Jason Johnston each put in 10 points, while Matt Boren and Tim Buckholz had two each.

The Cougars now stand at 7-7 on the season. Only three years ago Miller was playing on this LCA team, when the Cougars went 23-0, winning the ACSI State Championship and the Great Midwest Championship.

The Cougars travel to Fort Wayne Cornerstone for their next game and then are home again next Tuesday for senior night.

CHRISTIAN CENTER 70, LCA 39

LCA 8 7 9 15 - 39

CC 17 18 25 10 - 70

LCA Scoring: Silveus 15, Hood 10, Johnston 10, Boren 2, Buckholz 2

CC Scoring: Turley 20, Sumrall 11, Fletcher 9, Boudreau 8, Bender 7, Malone

6, Schiff 6, Leetz 3

Girls: LCA 43

Christian Center 34

The LCA Cougars now boast a 10-3 record on the season after their solid win against Christian Center.Ê

A strong defense and a relentless press gave the girls the victory. In spite of the great defensive efforts, the Cougars committed only seven fouls, but Christian Center would never find the range, missing every foul shot while LCA shot 49 percent from the line.

ÊAt the end of the first quarter LCA lead 12-8. Christian Center battled back, ending the half down by only two points, 18-16.Ê At the end of the third quarter the score was tied at 26-26.Ê LCA poured it on late with a big 17-8 advantage in the final quarter to nail down the win.

For LCA, senior Heather Jones was the leading scorer with 16. In the first half she managed only two points from the line and two points from the field, but came through in the second half with 12 points.Ê Sarah Haupert a junior, and freshman Kris Paulus each had nine points. Erin Silveus, also a freshman, contributed to the big fourth quarter with her four points.

LCA 43, CHRISTIAN CENTER 34

LCA 12 6 8 17 -Ê43

CC 8 8 10 8 -Ê34

LCA Scoring: Jones 16, Haupert 9, Paulus 9, Silveus 4, Lavender 2, Harman 2,

McCall 1.

CC Scoring: Leets 10, Bucholtz 8, Luccki 6, Smith 6, Shaffer 4 [[In-content Ad]]