Teel, Wenck rally team for 49-45 win over Lathrop

LATHROP — Cameron got back in the win column after junior guard Eme Teel and senior forward Claire Wenck provided the Lady Dragons with a 1-2 punch to knockout the Lathrop Lady Mules 49-45.

 A trio of Teel 3-pointers quickly erased an early first-quarter deficit and set up a dogfight that didn’t end until the Dragons pulled away in the third quarter.

“They answered. We got off to a slow start. We’d been there before. They knew how to respond, and they responded well. It sure helps when the ball goes in like that,” Cameron asst. coach Richard Berry said. 

Each of the Lady Dragons’ 12 points in the first quarter came from beyond the arch. Sophomore forward Addi McVicker kickstarted Cameron early with a game-opening 3-pointer before Teel’s salvo moments later. Teel and McVicker stayed hot beyond the arch in the second quarter. 

“I was just throwing them up there, and hoping they would go in. It worked. You have to do what you have to do when your team needs you,” said Teel, who scored a team-leading 19 points Monday night. 

Once Lathrop focused on stopping shots at the perimeter, Wenck opened up a 10-point scoring barrage, going 4-4 from the free-throw line after drawing fouls on drives underneath, then hitting a pair of 3-pointers to give Cameron a narrow 28-26 lead going into halftime. Although struggling early against the press, Wenck credited the CHS coaching staff for having the foresight to work on the Lady Dragons’ press-breaker ahead of Monday’s game.

“We just had to box out and be really aggressive at getting those rebounds. We had to keep fighting for it,” Wenck said. “The team realized we needed points and kept working the ball, get them open … We worked on how to break the press before the game. We knew how to break it, pass the ball and think before you pass it.”

Senior guard Addison Shanks opened the second half with a 3-pointer, which turned out to be the final lead exchange of what had been an evenly matched game until that point. Shots by senior forward Maddison Jessen and junior guard Ella Jameson provided Cameron a bit of breathing room. Mounting Lathrop fouls put Cameron in the bonus with minutes left in regulation, which was all the Lady Dragons needed to fend off Lathrops late rally. 

“We just had to wake up and get going. They knew what they had to do, they just had to go out and do it. Sometimes we forget that every once and a while,” Berry said.