For most, winter is just a cold and dreadful season, but for the Lakewood Girls’ Basketball Team, winter means basketball season: the best time of the year. In the 2016-2017 season the team won the district championship for the first time in 22 years, making them one of the final 16 division one teams in the state, competing for the state championship title. Coming off of such a great feat, the team was ready to jump right into the 2017-2018 season.

The season opened up on November 25th with a tough loss at Wadsworth. In the preseason rankings, Wadsworth was ranked 2nd in the Cleveland area while Lakewood was ranked 16th. The team ended the first half of the season with six wins and six losses. Highlights from the first 12 games include overtime wins against Amherst Steele and Avon and a 20 point win against top ranked Mentor. The second half of the season started off with four wins including an overtime win against North Ridgeville who had beaten Lakewood the first time around. These four wins added to a strong finish of the first half of the season to provide a six game winning streak for the Rangers.

The Rangers have only five more games left in the regular season including senior night against North Olmsted on February 7th where the six seniors on the team will be recognized. In mid-February the Rangers will start their post season tournament in the Parma District. The team is hoping to build on last year’s success and make winning the district championship a tradition in the program.