The Lake Land College’s (LLC) Lady Lakers women’s basketball team under the guidance of longtime coach, Dave Johnson alongside his assistants, J.R. Hodges and Tom Titus, finished the 2023-24 season with a 25-10 record.
The Lady Lakers abovementioned overall record included a 71.4% winning percentage. For the season, the Lady Lakers were 11-4 at home, 12-5 on the road, 2-1 at neutral sites and 10-4 in the Region 24 Conference.
Despite losing in the first round of the Region 24 conference tournament to the Lincoln Land College Lady Loggers at Cass Gym in Springfield, IL., they qualified for the national tournament, which was held at Joplin, MO.
In the first round, the Lady Lakers defeated the Jackson College Lady Jets by the score of 80-70. In the second round the Lady Lakers fell to the eventual champions, Kirkwood Community College Lady Bears, 90-69. The Lady Lakers will lose their final game of the season to the Harcum College Lady Bears, 65-58 in the 7th place quarterfinals to finish their season.
Coach Johnson, who has been the coach for the Lady Lakers since the 1999-2000 season has consistently fielded winning teams. Under his tutelage, the Lady Lakers have had numerous winning seasons, top 25 rankings, and average 21 wins per season. Most recently, the Lady Lakers took home the NJCAA DII National Championship in 2021.
Johnson emphasized that the strengths of last year’s team, “While they were young, they picked up our (coaching staff’s) plays and philosophies pretty fast. We shot the ball pretty well from the three-point range. Guard play and ball handling was our strengths as well last year.”
In regards to the shortcomings of last year’s team, Johnson highlighted, “Defensively, we could have been better. Staying in front of the opposing players and cutting down their drives (penetration) to the basket. In addition, half-court offense and getting a quality shot before the shot clock buzzer expires.”
This summer, Johnson explained, “I had the team work on shoring up our weaknesses from last year by going over drills so that the team would be better prepared for this upcoming season. We spent this time talking to them and getting them to the right spots defensively and for the half-court offense taking a look at the different options within a certain play.”
Come and watch the women’s basketball team play at the Fieldhouse as they plan to again qualify for the national tournament and make another attempt to win their second national championship in the team’s history.
Their home opener is Saturday, Nov. 9 at five in the evening when they host the Grand Rapids Community College Lady Raiders. The next home will be on the tenth as they will play the Jefferson College (MO) Lady Vikings. Their conference home opener will be on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 5:30 when the play against the Rend Lake College Lady Warriors.
