The Blue Bombers didn’t have a perfect night, and got off to a rocky start early. However, Abbey Light took control of the contest on the offensive side in the second half, while she and the rest of her team pitched in a strong defensive performance, to slip past its non-league rivals, improving the team’s overall record to 2-5.

“I really liked the way we played defense tonight,” Lake Placid’s head coach Jeff Potter said. “(There was) a lot of hustle, and it was causing some turnovers. Ella Moodey did a great job defensively, Ellie Shipman also did a tremendous job defensively. And it certainly helps when you’re hitting outside shots.”

Light had 25 points, which included seven 3-pointer to lead all scorers. Moodey and Shipman chipped in with four points each, while Anisa Cecunjanin added three and Johnilyn Corrow had two.

On the other side, Emma Akey paced the Red Storm with 15 points, which included two 3-pointers. Ashlyn Tomaszewski and Sadie Tower scored four points each, while Brylee Carter and Tristan LaDue each had two. But costly turnovers proved to be an issue for the team.

Saranac Lake’s Emma Akey looks to make a play during Monday’s game against Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“(There were) too many poor passes and Lake Placid took advantage of it,” Saranac Lake head coach Ian Breen said. “They ran their offense very well and didn’t turn the ball over. That was the big difference in the game. We turned it over and they didn’t turn it over.”

The Red Storm jumped out to an early 13-8 lead in the opening quarter, however the Blue Bombers responded with a 10-5 run to tie the game at 18-18 at halftime.

“We started out a little slow and we had a lot of turnovers that we had to clean up,” Potter said. “Once Abbey got hot on her 3-pointers it really kind of opened up the inside.”

Out of the break, Light connected on nine points in the third quarter — all on 3-pointers — along with a basket from Shipman to give the Blue Bombers a 29-23 advantage heading into the final period.

“I told her, ‘You’ve got to take those shots when they’re open,’” Potter said. “And they were falling for her. It was good to get a win.”

Lake Placid outscored Saranac Lake 9-4 in the fourth quarter, due in part to Moodey’s four points. Akey and Tomaszewski each scored a basket in the final period.

The Red Storm will drop to 1-5 overall with the loss, and for Breen, Monday’s contest was obviously not their best outing.

“I think the effort was there, it just wasn’t our night,” he said. “Shots weren’t falling. Lake Placid, credit to them, they played really hard, they played really smart. Credit to them they beat us, and sometimes that happens.”

Up next for Saranac Lake, is the AuSable Valley Patriots at 7 p.m. today at home. It’ll be one of the team’s first league contest this season.

“We definitely have to use this as a learning experience because we’re now getting into league play and we’ve got some tough games coming up,” Breen said. “So we’ve got to play better to compete. We can’t play like we did tonight and compete against the best teams in Section VII. We’ll work on it and try and get better everyday.”

Meanwhile, the Blue Bombers will host Johnsburg/Minerva at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The team was originally scheduled to travel to Wells on Tuesday, but that game was postponed.

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Lake Placid 38, Saranac Lake 27

Blue Bombers 8 10 11 9 — 38

Red Storm 13 5 5 4 — 27

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Lake Placid (38)

Anisa Cecunjanin 1-1-3; Alex Smith 0-0-0; Ellie Shipman 2-0-4; Ella Moodey 2-0-4; Elyse Hathaway 0-0-0; Abbey Light 8-2-25; John Corrow 1-0-2; Jillian Kern 0-0-0. Totals: 14-3-38.

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Saranac Lake (27)

Emma Akey 6-0-15; Sadie Tower 2-0-4; Ashlyn Tomaszewski 2-0-4; Brylee Carter 1-0-2; Tristan LaDue 1-0-2; Ellie Willett 0-0-0; Sabina Radoncic 0-0-0. Totals: 12-0-27.

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3-point goals: Lake Placid (7): Light 7. Saranac Lake (3): Akey 3.