(Photo by Tim Pitts) caption: LINING UP: Hun School senior basketball player Lexee Liaskos lines up a free throw in recent action. Last week, Liaskos scored 14 points in Hun’s 47-20 win over Lawrenceville. The Raiders, who moved to 2-3 with a 64-40 loss to Bishop Ahr last Friday, will next be in action when they play at Edison Academy on January 5.

With Senior Liaskos Setting Aggressive Tone, Hun Girls’ Hoops Showing Competitive Fire

Bill Alden

Coming off a disappointing loss to Pennington, Lexee Liaskos and her teammates on the Hun School girls’ basketball team brought some extra fire into their game last week at Lawrenceville.

“The thing about the Hun program, however long I have known it, is that it has had a really strong basketball team so I think the mentality was to come back from that,” said senior guard Liaskos, reflecting on the defeat to Pennington.

“Everyone on our team is competitive and loves to play. I think we all kind of came mentally prepared for this game. It was our first MAPL (Mid-Atlantic Prep League) game and I think we all wanted to bounce back and make a statement. We weren’t going to let the loss to Pennington hold us back.”

Hun didn’t waste any time making a statement against the Big Red, jumping off to a 28-12 lead by halftime on the way to a 47-20 victory.

Liaskos, who ended the evening with 14 points, went out of her way to spark the Raiders on both ends of the floor.

“Everyone on our team has potential to be good on offense and defense,” said Liaskos.

“Today I wanted to help set the tone along with the other girls that this was going to be a game that we were hopefully going to come out on top and if not, we were going to play hard on defense. I took the mentality personally that if you are open, look for the good shot.”

With the Hun line-up dotted with new faces, three-year veteran Liaskos is looking to provide some leadership.

“We have a different team number-wise; we don’t have a lot of depth but everyone that is on the team is going to be involved,” said Liaskos.

“Personally I am just here to play the game and help out and be a leader to those that are new on the team. I think they have done a great job picking up on everything. We have a lot to learn from one another and hopefully it is going to come out.”

Hun head coach Bill Holup likes the job he is getting from Liaskos. “Lexee is a workhorse out there; she loves to play and leaves it all on the court,” said Holup.

“She gives 100 percent, going after loose balls and being physical. She is aggressive offensively. She has been more of a vocal leader as well; she talks way more often than she used to. She bounces ideas off me; I certainly respect that.”

The Raiders are also getting more aggressive play from athletic senior guard Lauren Shockley, who scored 11 points in the win over Lawrenceville.

“Lauren is a dying breed; she is a three-sport athlete who plays soccer, basketball and lacrosse,” said Holup, who also got 16 points from post-graduate JacQuel Saunders in the victory over the Big Red.

“You just don’t see that very often any more. She’s been with the program for four years. She started out on JV and worked her way up. Last year, she got some quality minutes. She has been a terrific leader.”

Boasting less depth than in past years, Holup acknowledges that his team is a work in progress.

“Our numbers are low this year and this is what we have,” said Holup, whose team dropped to 2-3 with a 64-40 loss to Bishop Ahr last Friday and will next be in action when it plays at Edison Academy on January 5.

“The girls are learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s a long season; we have to keep getting better. We need to make sure that we take care of the ball and limit our turnovers. It was good to get that second win under our belts. It was a league game; they are always important.”

In Liaskos’ view, each game is important. “We play a lot of good competition throughout the season,” asserted Liaskos.

“Not one game on our schedule is going to be easy so the mentality is to never take a team lightly. I think we have learned from the Pennington loss especially that we are not going to let something like that happen again. We have to play our best no matter what team it is.”

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