Over the last two seasons, the turnaround for Lansing girls basketball has been nothing short of remarkable. In 2023 and 2024, the Bobcats won just four games combined. Last year was a breakthrough campaign, going 8-12 and qualifying for sectionals for the first time since 2017. This time around, the Bobcats have pounced to even greater heights.
For the first time since 2014, Lansing captured the IAC North Large Division title. The division has recently been dominated by Whitney Point, who had won the previous eight titles. But with the Golden Eagles going through a down year, the Bobcats seized the opportunity and earned the right to play for an IAC championship.
“It’s incredibly special for us,” said head coach Greg Wilder. “The unique thing about it is the group ultimately had that as a goal, but the group also wants to reshape Lansing girls basketball. A lot of their excitement is not just over the season and where they’re at, but there’s just a general interest. There’s an excitement in the air. There are more people in the crowd. That carries over from season to season… They’re excited about where we’re at, but they’re also excited about where the program is headed to.”
It’s not just the varsity team that has vastly improved. The junior varsity team has had a similar upswing under Jake Fusilli, going 5-15 last season to reversing their record to 15-5 this year and also winning their division title.
“It’s all working in the right direction,” Wilder said. “He is a tremendous skills coach, and it’s starting to show. He’s getting more numbers, people, participants, and he’s teaching them the early things on how to win… It’s hard to learn how to win, and so the lessons they learned this year in several close games that they ended up winning is going to contribute to future success of the varsity program, because now we’re getting kids that not only are skillful, not only want to win, not only want to get better, but they’re being put in positions to win games.”
Back to the varsity team, one player who’s really been through all the highs and lows is Marissa Nolan. The senior is the only Bobcat with four years of varsity experience, and she has helped make her final high school season a successful one. It’s unsurprising to see SUNY Plattsburgh commit lead the way offensively with 18 points per game, but there are two other areas of her game that have taken great strides.
“Marissa needed to be better at defense and develop her leadership skills,” Wilder said. “She obviously leads the team in scoring, but she also leads in steals, which is clearly a focus on defense… She’s working on her leadership, because it doesn’t matter whether she scores 18 a game or 50 a game. It doesn’t matter what her points per game is. If she understands that it’s pulling everybody in, that’s going to make us successful. She works every day not only on her jump shot, but also on how to be a better leader.”
On the flip side, fellow senior Piper Mason is one of their top defenders but has vastly improved the opposite aspect of her game. Everything started to click about halfway through the season, and she’s put up multiple 20-point performances since then.
“Knowing her willingness, whatever it takes to win, her leadership, her defense, but then adding in the growth of learning how to be a little bit more selfish, learning to have an offensive mindset certainly has not only changed her game, but added W’s to our column and made us a better team,” Wilder said.
Another key player is Izzy Wilder. The junior is their second-highest scorer with 12 points per game, but like Nolan, there are other aspects of her game that have been even more impressive.
“Right now she leads in rebounds and assists,” Wilder said. “If you’re grabbing rebounds, you’re working hard on defense, and you’re sweeping the glass for us, and if you’re averaging four assists a game on a team that averages 13, that to me is an incredible statistic that just shows how committed she is to making sure the whole team is involved.”
As for the other starters, senior Lani Drake has had a strong presence as a defensive-minded guard, and sophomore Nasia Whyte has made a great impact on both ends of the floor still early on in her career..
Lansing’s first IAC championship game in 12 did not go their way, falling to Watkins Glen 54-25. Luckily for the Bobcats, they’ll get another crack at the Lake Hawks in the Section IV Class B quarterfinals on February 27 in Schuyler County. Having lost to Watkins Glen three times, the Bobcats hope that this fourth meeting will end in their favor.
“At the end of the day, Lansing girls basketball has to play Lansing girls basketball: high energy defense that’s creating offense,” Wilder said. “We got to get out and run. We got to knock down our shots. We have to rebound. We have to cause problems internally and cause turnovers.”
