Riverside, Calif. — After all of the turmoil and controversy early in the season, the Lakeside High School girls’ basketball team miraculously finished with a 26-4 season record and a CIF title!

This season showed exactly what the young ladies were made of. They were tested during the Christmas break after an unexpected coaching change, that left Lakeside alumni, 22-year old Kianna Williams to run the helms.

Williams said that it was a very difficult process at first, since it was her first-year coaching and didn’t realize just how different the perspective and preparations of coaching are compared to the responsibilities of a player.

With the help of assistant coach Jay Gomez, who also coaches the boys’ varsity team, the Lady Lancers were able to make a smooth transition in the mist of outside distractions. They added a few new things to prepare for each game, credited to coach Gomez with providing in depth scouting reports and changed a bit of the system, using a six-to-seven player rotation.  

“The good thing about this team is that the system they already had was basically the system we had been running,” coach Gomez said. “It was real easy for Kianna to step in and run the system because it’s the system she played with for three years.”

Coach Williams is unsure of what is next for her but if she’s offered the coaching job full time, she will gladly accept and be one of the youngest varsity coaches in the nation. As of right now, her resume is looking quite impressive.

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Interview with the Lakeside Girls varsity Basketball team 2019 CIF-SS Campions

Intern Staff Writer: Cameron Winston (IE Sports Net)