Stronger And Deeper At Lake Shore Basketball

The tying bonds of Lake Shore and Chesapeake basketball continue to strengthen.

“Almost all if not all members of the CHS girls and boys basketball coaching staffs have coached or are coaching a Lake Shore basketball team,” said Chesapeake girls varsity head coach Maria Gray, who is also the president of Lake Shore Basketball.

Gray and assistant girls varsity coach Leroy Downin both have over a decade of Lake Shore coaching experience; Downin has coached for 15 seasons and is coaching a 13U boys team this year. Girls JV head coach Shane Smythe was a long-term Lake Shore basketball girls intramural and county coach, and varsity assistant Abbey Kipke is a Chesapeake graduate who played Lake Shore and Chesapeake basketball and helped coach Lake Shore 13U girls last season. JV assistant Tracy Yeager also assists Ron Bumgarner’s Lake Shore girls county team.

On the boys side, Chesapeake varsity head coach Shawn Rebstock and assistants Mike Hill and Jeff Young both have over a decade of Lake Shore coaching experience. New Chesapeake JV boys coach Wiley Baker is also coaching a Lake Shore 11U boys team and is actively partnering with the Lake Shore feeder system to strengthen the pipeline of incoming athletes at Chesapeake. Assistant coach Brian Brady has also coached Lake Shore youth teams.

Lake Shore has three teams competing in the county’s 12U girls divisions, and all three are doing well, with Glenn Clayville’s 12U C team undefeated, Melissa Slade’s AAU team with only one loss in the 12U A Division and Ray Moreno’s 12U team coming on strong after a recent upset victory.

Jon Kelly’s 13U girls team is also excelling, and Gray said “Jon Kelly has done a great job developing girls that will feed into CHS.”

The intramural program is thriving, with tons of local girls participating; the 5/6 age group plays a coed league; and the 7-9 age group of girls plays at Bodkin Elementary on Saturdays.

There are 784 kids playing Lake Shore basketball this winter on 94 total teams, with 12 girls teams and 14 boys teams competing in the county.

Lake Shore Basketball night at Chesapeake is January 25, as Lake Shore and Chesapeake will gather to celebrate around the Cougars’ home games against Glen Burnie. Gray gave these details of the event:

This Friday, January 25, is Lake Shore Basketball night at Chesapeake as the Cougars take on Glen Burnie! All players K-12th grade wearing this season’s Lake Shore County or Intramural jersey will receive FREE game admission and a FREE hotdog and drink courtesy of the CHS Athletic Boosters. All LSB players in attendance are invited to come down to the court at halftime of both the varsity girls and varsity boys games to watch some LSB halftime hoop action and to gather for a large group photo.

Got a sports or news tip? Email Colin at colin@pasadenavoice.com.