Aguirre leads Lakeland to playoff win

Big-time players produce when it’s win or go home time and Lakeland is fortunate to have one of those players in sophomore guard Liliana Aguirre. 

Aguirre scored a game-high 21 points in addition to grabbing 6 rebounds and recording 4 steals, in the No. 7 Hornets’ 54-41 victory against visiting No. 10 Yorktown in the opening round of the Section 1 Class AA Tournament on Feb. 21. 

Lakeland was next scheduled to play at No. 2 Ossining on Feb. 25 in the quarterfinals.  

“She is as tough as they come,” said Lakeland coach Mike Auerbach of Aguirre. “She is as competitive as a kid as there is. She is just laser focused every day, full practices, every game, she doesn’t miss anything and that is just her personality. Then you get in a big game like this, we need a big shot and she’s the one we are going to turn to.” 

Aguirre said what helps her do what she does is having teammates that she can rely on. 

“They are our rivals so beating them [in sectionals] feels great and knowing my team is there behind me if I make a mistake, they are there to back me up and that is a good feeling,” Aguirre said. “Now we just want to keep going.” 

Late in the third quarter, Lakeland led 41-25, but the game was far from over. 

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Auerbach said. “We beat them twice in the regular season by three points both times. We knew it was going to be a one- or two-possession game most of the way. They are very tough, physical, they defend really well, they do a lot of things in the half court defensively that give us trouble.  

“We knew that we were going to really have to be on top of our game. We knew we were really going to have to be good on our defensive end and we did a nice job. The kids played great.” 

Yorktown mounted a furious comeback, cutting the Hornets’ lead to five points.

“We were able to cut the lead because of our focus,” said Yorktown’s Reilly Acosta. “We were able to get good stops on defense and make good decisions on offense.” 

A 3-pointer by Acosta at the end of the third quarter trimmed Lakeland’s advantage to 41-29. 

“During the first half, my shots didn’t fall the way that I wanted them to,” Acosta said. “When I had the opportunity to hit that three, I felt confident.” 

Acosta then started the fourth quarter with a field goal. After a Lakeland free throw, Acosta made another great play when she stole a pass underneath the hoop and scored, further trimming Lakeland’s advantage to 42-33. 

“Our man to man press really helped us to come back in the fourth quarter,” Acosta said. “From making that play, we were really pumped and played with effort.” 

Yorktown eventually pulled to within five of the lead but Lakeland’s Emily Hahn (6 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals) made a steal at half court and scored, giving the Hornets a 44-37 advantage with 4:01 to go in the game. 

“They were turning up the pressure on us, their full-court press is really tough, we started to struggle with it and that was a senior [Hahn] making a senior play, coming up with a steal there, turning it into two points, to put us back up seven,” Auerbach said.  

Aguirre sealed the win with a 3-pointer from the right corner, that put Lakeland up 49-39. 

“It felt amazing,” Aguirre said. “I was missing all my other ones (3-pointers) but I knew my team needed it because Yorktown went on a run. So knowing I was able to stop its run and get us a 10-point lead was really great.” 

Riley Waters (12 points, 4 assists), Carina Cannizzaro (9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists) and Allie Waters (6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists) produced for Lakeland, while Erin Duffy (8 points), Addison Schluter (7 points), Izzy Todd (7 points), Sophia Marcello (5 points) and Ava Ryan (5 points) scored for Yorktown.  

Lakeland (14-7) and Yorktown (8-13) each finished their regular seasons at home on Feb. 16, with the Hornets defeating Suffern 57-44, led by Riley Waters (16 points), Aguirre (12 points), Cannizzaro (11 points), Allie Waters (7 points), Hahn (6 points) and Emma Burke (5 points).   

Yorktown fell to Mamaroneck 53-34, paced by Schluter (11 points), Duffy (9 points), Ryan (8 points) and Marcello (6 points).