LORAIN - With a young team and an offense that’s a work in progress, Elyria needed solid defense and strong rebounding to win its 11th straight Lorain County Holiday Classic.

The Pioneers got both.

They forced 25 turnovers and destroyed Admiral King on the backboards Saturday night in rolling to a 45-26 victory in the title game of the four-team invitational.

The other side of the story is the Pioneers also committed 25 turnovers. But they owned the boards, 47-26.

Elyria has now won 22 consecutive games without a loss in the 11 years the Classic has been held. Elyria Catholic won the third-place game, nipping Keystone 40-37 in Saturday night’s opener.

This is the third year in a row the Pioneers (2-0) have defeated Admiral King (1-1) in the championship game. They won 57-45 last year and 61-53 in 2007.

“Obviously for the last four or five years, our first goal of the year is to try to win the holiday tournament,” Elyria coach Mike Walsh said. “We have basically three chances to win some championships, the holiday tournament, the next one is conference and the last one is basically the district. So we accomplished one of our goals by winning the tournament.”

The Pioneers got a double-double - 16 points and 10 boards - from 5-foot-9 junior forward Nais Williams, the first of her high school career. She led all scorers and was the only Pioneer to finish in double figures. They also got 10 rebounds from 6-0 senior Brigette Jones. Both were named to the all-tournament team.

“This means a lot because I’m a senior and I didn’t want to lose this Holiday Classic, I didn’t want this to be the year we lost it,” Jones said. “So I’m just glad we can go home with another win. We put a lot of effort into this and we worked good as a team.”

“This is exciting,” Williams said. “I feel good about my team because we work hard and together. We got a little bit out of control toward the end, but we got it together.”

Elyria held Admiral King scoreless for the first 5:44 and took a 7-2 lead behind two baskets by Williams and a 3-point field goal by junior guard Soni Seymore. The Pioneers got six points from junior Daphne Brown and four from senior Alecia Jones in the second quarter and took a 20-8 lead into the break.

The Admirals’ Alexandria Harris, a 6-3 freshman with a ton of potential, scored four points in the period. But the Pioneers limited her to two foul shots the rest of the way. Madison Stoyka, the Admirals’ 5-9 sophomore guard, scored 12 points and was the only player on her team in double figures.

Seymore again ran the Pioneers’ offense from the point and broke the Admirals’ pressure defense. Seymore also went down with a turned ankle half way through the third quarter. But she returned later in the period, although she was gimpy the rest of the way.

“What happened was we didn’t communicate very well, there was a pick and I kind of tweaked (my ankle) a little bit,” Seymore said. “I already have weak ankles and that kind of messed it up a little bit. But I’ll ice it and I’ll be ready next week.”

Admiral King coach Cheryl Bansek said her team never got untracked offensively.

“Elyria played some very good defense,” she said. “You know, we’ve very young and knew we were going to struggle in our offensive set, and we did. We’re just very young and we didn’t necessarily buy into the game plan.”

All-tourney team

Named to the all-tournament team by Holiday Classic officials were Brigette Jones and Nais Williams, Elyria; Alexandria Harris and Madison Stoyka, Admiral King; Katie Schneider, Elyria Catholic, and Kim Kokoski, Keystone.

Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Elyria 45, Admiral King 26

ELYRIA (45): Soni Seymore 1-1-4, Mary Jones 1-0-2, Briann Owens 0-0-0, Galan Jones 0-5-5, Alecia Jones 2-1-5, Brigette Jones 1-3-5, Jasmine Fluker 0-0-0, Daphne Brown 4-0-8, Nais Williams 6-4-16, Anastasia Barnhill 0-0-0, Kristen Burrey 0-0-0. Totals 15-14-45.

ADMIRAL KING (26): Anissa Brooks 0-0-0, Tiara Ammons 1-0-2, Madison Stoyka 5-1-12, Daisy Soler 0-0-0, Jade Blair 0-0-0, Sheral Robinson 2-0-4, Jessica Fields 0-0-0, Taj McCall 1-0-2, Alexandria Harris 2-2-6. Totals 11-3-26.

Elyria                               7              13            12            13            -           45
Admiral King                2              6              11            7              -           26

Three-point goals: Elyria 1-3 (Seymore); Admiral King 1-6 (Stoyka). Field goals: Elyria 15-51 (29 percent); Admiral King 11-51 (22 percent). Free throws: Elyria 14-24; Admiral King 3-11. Rebounds: Elyria 47; Admiral King 26. Turnovers: Elyria 25; Admiral King 25. Fouled out: Brigette Jones.

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