2009-2010 Lady Lakers
Front Row: Zipporah Tidwell, Aslea Williams, Jasmine Frierson, Dominique Wright, SirShawna Dowdy, Tiara Roberts, Daniel Lewis, Sierra Morris, Aysia Mickles-Turner and Vynetta Crider
Back Row: Assistant Coach La'Shawn Bradley, Head Coach Gary Hicks, Assistant Coach Marques Evans
S.T.A.R. Student Athletes: Fall 2009
Congratulations to Danielle Lewis and Zipporah Tidwell who each achieved a 3.0 grade point average during the fall semester, while carrying a minimum of 12 credit hours.
January 30, 2010
A pair of double/doubles, including a super double/double by center Aslea Williams, helped the Lady Lakers clinch a 69-68 road victory at Columbus State CC today.
Williams had 29 points, 20 rebounds, four blocks, seven steals and made the game winning free throw in the final seconds to secure the victory. The Lakers scored most of their points in the front court in this one, as fellow forward Zipporah Tidwell contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds.
The Lakers had a hard time getting started in this one, and found themselves down by 11 at the half. However, the team kicked it into high gear in the second half. Before seven minutes were gone, the Lakers had pulled ahead.
The Lakers pulled ahead, but the Cougars would not go quietly. With a minute fifteen left, the Lakers were down by one. Coach Hicks called a time out and drew up the final play.
Guard Danielle Lewis drove the lane and dished off to Williams. She missed the shot, but was fouled. She hit both the free throws to put the Lakers ahead for good.
The Lakers are 16-5 and 5-2 in the OCCAC after dropping a 52-65 game against Owens CC earlier in the week. Owens is currently ranked fourth in the NJCAA national poll.
The team starts their February on the road, playing at Lorain County CC on Wednesday and Sinclair CC on Saturday.
January 9, 2010
The Lady Lakers opened conference play with a 60-58 victory over Sinclair Community College (11-3, 1-1 in the OCCAC). Like the Lakers, the Tartan Pride has been hovering at the edge of the national poll.
The Lakers were led by Aslea Williams who put in 17 points, while grabbing 14 rebounds. SirShawna Dowdy and Zipporah Tidwell scored 14 and 12 respectively.
Overall, the team had a stellar shooting effort, converting 51% of their shots. Coming into the contest, both teams were shooting 43% from the floor on the season. Sinclair finished the game with a 39% shooting percentage.
As a team, the Lakers continue to dominate the boards, out-rebounding Sinclair 38-27.
The Lady Lakers (12-3, 1-0 OCCAC) will host Lorain County Community College on Wednesday at 5:30.
December 12 and 13, 2009
The Lady Lakers picked up two more victories this weekend in New York State, to raise their season record to 11-2. The ladies have put together a pretty impressive season so far, but Coach Gary Hicks feels that they are finally hitting their stride.
“This was the first game this season that we put a total game together,” said Hicks after his team’s 74-59 victory over Erie CC on Saturday. “Players finally grasp what we want them to do, and what’s expected of them.”
The Lakers started the Erie game strong, and were up by as many as thirteen. However, the Kats made a solid run and pulled within five, to 33-28 at the half.
The Lakers regrouped in the locker room, and came out in a full court press. They quickly pulled out to a double digit lead, from which the Kats could not recover.
SirShawna Dowdy led all scorers with fourteen points; this guard also contributed six rebounds and three assists. Tiara Roberts broke out of a shooting slump to post thirteen points. Zipporah Tidwell posted eleven points and eight rebounds; while Aslea Williams recovered from a rough first half on the boards to pull down twelve rebounds for the game, while putting in nine points.
On Sunday, the team continued its solid play by posting a 95-69 victory over Alfred State who they had beaten 84-68 earlier this season.
Tidwell and Roberts each posted a double/double in that contest. Each grabbed ten rebounds, while Tidwell scored a game leading twenty-seven points and Roberts tossed in twenty-one.
“I was proud to see our growth this weekend,” said Hicks. “As a Coach, that’s what you want to see heading into conference play.”
The Lakers have one more independent contest before the holiday break, and the beginning of conference play in January. They will return to New York this weekend to face Genesse Community College on Saturday, December 19 at 1:00. This will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Lakeland won that first contest in a hard-fought 86-81 home victory.
December 6, 2009
The Lady Lakers move to 9-2 on the season after winning the TJ Memorial Tournament at Lakeland Community College this weekend.
The ladies beat the JV team from Notre Dame College 81-49 on the opening night of the tournament.
The team was led by Zipporah Tidwell who posted her first double/double of the season with twenty-one points and ten rebounds. Aslea Williams posted her own double/double with ten points and rebounds. Aysia Mickles-Turner had sixteen points and Danielle Lewis tossed in thirteen.
The Lakers outshot the Falcons 46% to 30% from the floor, and 59% to 50% from the line. The Lakers also won the battle of the boards 53-50.
In the championship game, the Lakers defeated the team from Alfred State College 84-68. Alfred State came into the contest at 8-4 after beating Glen Oaks Community College 74-72 in the preliminary contest.
The Lakers dominated the boards, 64-46 and had three players rebound in double figures. Williams and Tidwell each grabbed eleven, while point guard SirShawna Dowdy managed to pull in ten. 
Dowdy led all scorers with twenty five points, while Williams threw in twenty-two and Mickles-Turner had ten. The Lakers shot a solid 42% from the floor.
Alfred State was led by Brittney Brooks with nineteen points and eight rebounds.
Dowdy was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and Williams and Tidwell were each placed on the All-Tournament Team.
Next weekend the Lakers travel to New York to take on Erie Community College and Alfred State College, who will each be looking to avenge previous defeats at the hands of the Lakers.
November 18, 2009
The Lady Lakers knocked another team from the ranks of the unbeaten with their 77-59 win over Erie Community College.
Guard Danielle Lewis played a strong 35 minutes as she picked the Kats for five steals, dished out five assists and scored ten points. The diminutive Lewis even managed to grab seven rebounds.
The Lakers were led by Aslea Williams who scored 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Williams was eight for fourteen from the floor and six for seven from the line.
Asia Mickles-Turner had eleven points, Zipporah Tidwell had nine and Tiara Roberts and Sierra Morris each had eight.
The ladies will take their 6-1 record to Monroe Community College this weekend for a two game tournament.
November 14, 2009
The Lady Lakers beat Genesse Community College 86-81 to raise their record to 5-1. The Genesse Cougars were ranked 13th by the NJCAA coming into the game, and were the second nationally ranked team that the Lakers have beaten in this season. 
The Cougars had no answer for sophomore Aslea Williams. She dominated the boards with 18 rebounds; controlled the paint with three blocks; was near perfect from the charity stripe, making ten of eleven; and was solid inside, converting on nine of fifteen shots; for 28 points.
Fellow sophomore Tiara Roberts also scored a double/double for the Lakers, with ten points and twelve rebounds.
Both teams started the game with a full-court press, which led to some sloppy play at the outset. When Lakeland converted off a SirShawna Dowdy steal at the top of the arc, eight minutes into the game, the Lakers took a bit of control at 23-16.
Both teams pulled off their presses, but the Cougars continued to aggressively go after the ball, which gave the Lakers several wide open passes and easy inside baskets.
When the Lakers ran their offense, they were able to get the ball down low to Williams who used her spin move to out maneuver two, and sometimes three, defenders.
The Lakers took a 47-39 lead into half-time, but the Cougars were far from finished.
Genesse came out with an 8-2 run after the break, before the Lakers were able to get their offense back on track with a Roberts drive to the hole. The Lakers continued to move the ball and use a combination of drives to the basket and inside passes to frustrate the Cougars.
A pair of Genesse technical fouls allowed the Lakers to pull it out to a ten point lead, but the Cougars came fighting back. By the ten minute mark, it was again a two point game, and the fouls were piling up for both teams.
Coach Gary Hicks slowed down the Lakers’ offense, but both teams seemed to stall out with the slow down and the score remained 70-67, Lakers, for several minutes.
Genesse pulled within one to make it 70-69, when they scored off an inbounds play. Sophomore forward Zipporah Tidwell was fouled going to the hole and made one of her subsequent free throws.
The Cougar’s Kristie Laurey then came back with a short jumper to tie it at 71, before Tidwell was fouled again going inside. Tidwell converted the three point play to make it 74-71 Lakers.
On the Lakers’ next possession a missed three resulted in a Williams’ rebound and put back. The Lakers went up 76-71 with about three and half minutes left, and the teams exchanged baskets and fouls shots the rest of the way.
The Cougars fell to 1-2. They had five players score in double figures.
The Lakers dominated the boards, out-rebounding the Cougars 58-34. Tidwell had 17 points and SirShawna Dowdy contributed 13. Sierra Norris and Danielle Lewis each tossed in eight.
Next up for the Lady Lakers will be Erie County Community College on Wednesday, November 18th at 5:30. This is a home contest, where admission is always free.
OCCAC Honors
Congratulations to Zipporah Tidwell who was named an OCCAC Academic Award winner for the 2008-09 school year.
Shyla Jones was named to the All-OCCAC second team, while teammates Aslea Williams and Caprita Bell received honorable mentions.
Congratulations to Shyla Jones who will continue her playing career at West Virginia Technical College.
Congratulations to STAR STUDENTS Shyla Jones and Zipporah Tidwell. They each achieved a GPA of 3.0 or above for the spring semester.
May 17, 2009
Gary Hicks has been named the new women’s basketball coach at Lakeland Community College. Coach Hicks has spent two years as an assistant in the college’s men’s basketball program, but is eager to make the transition to women’s ball.
As an educator, Hicks has worked with females and female athletes. He has also coached girls at summer camps and in recreation leagues.
“Female basketball players tend to pay more attention to the details and the fundamentals than the guys do,” says Hicks. “I am looking forward to working with them in a college setting. I have a good nucleus of returning players, so I definitely have something I can build on.”
Since Hicks still has some recruiting to do before the next school year begins, he will be on the lookout for student athletes who want to be at Lakeland.
“I want them to be interested in being in the classroom, as well as being on the court,” said Hicks. He intends to build his program around the talent that he has each year.
“There is no point in building an offense around the fast break, if I don’t have the personnel to run it,” says Hicks. As a former post player himself, he likes an inside-outside game.
“I like to start big and then branch out,” he says. “But again, if I don’t have the personnel to play that way, we will adjust to the talent we have. However, I do like kids who like to play defense.”
Hicks intends to look for players “wherever there are kids putting a ball in a hoop.” He also plans to bring in a few more local athletes. To that end, he hopes to add a former area player to his coaching staff as well as a player with Division I college and professional experience. Those individuals are still going through Lakeland’s hiring process.
“I have begun working my network to find a few players that may have slipped through the cracks this year,” said Hicks. “It takes a bit of time to grow a program, but I am up for the challenge.”
Athletic director Scott Barlow is satisfied with the in-house promotion of Hicks. “We are happy to have Gary Hicks step into a head coaching position here at Lakeland. He is familiar with what we are, and where we want to go. He brings the talent, background and experience that we need to take our program to new heights.”
Hicks is employed at Bellefaire School in University Heights and is pursuing a teaching certificate in Special Education at Notre Dame College. He played basketball and is a graduate of California University in Pennsylvania and also attended and played at Cuyahoga Community College.
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