Lady Cats dominate Riverside on the road

The Lady Bobcats basketball team hit the road both Friday and Saturday and came home with a win and a loss.

The Lady Bobcats took the lead early in Friday’s game and refused to give Riverside a chance with the girls winning 49-33. The Lady Cats gained the lead in the first quarter and kept it until the end of the game. According to coach Cory Sova, the Lady Cats were able to get more field goal attempts than Riverside because of a big discrepancy in turnovers and the Lady Cats grabbed 23 offensive rebounds. “It was a good team effort; everyone pitched in and played their role,” said Sova.

Korey Smith had a nice all around game as she had eight rebounds and three steals to go along with her 16 points. “We lean on her for scoring and she was able to get to the free throw line eight times, which was nice to see,” said Sova.

Randi Elisson grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals. Haley McDermott had four rebounds and led the team with four steals. Jules Ward had five rebounds and led the team with three assists. Lizzy Lofink hit the boards hard grabbing five rebounds. Makayla George added four rebounds and made 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Melissa Ward also pitched in with five rebounds. Jessica Schierkolk shot well and had two assists. Ashlynn Weber had three rebounds and two assists. Mary Ryan was able to help out with two rebounds.

“We did miss 14 free throws and our shooting percentage wasn’t pretty so we will continue to spend time shooting the ball in game situations in practice,” said Sova.

Smith had 16 points, Shierkolk nine, George scored seven, McDermott had six, Elisson made four, Weber had three, with Lofink and Melissa Ward both scoring two points.

On Saturday, Greybull proved to be a challenge, winning the game against Thermopolis 30-25. According to Sova, the Lady Cats gave up too many offensive rebounds and had too many turnovers. “We simply did not get enough looks at the hoop,” said Sova.

Greybull, with a solid defense, made it difficult to take the ball to the basket. With greater size, and proving to be quite athletic, it was a difficult matchup for Thermopolis. The Lady Cats were only able to make it to the free throw line 12 times, which was rough on the team when the game was so physically demanding. “After looking at video, I was certainly disappointed, but these are things we cannot control,” said Sova. With a plan for the team to work on blocking out better and taking care of the ball better, the team will focus on shooting through drills and scrimmage situations, Sova explained.

McDermott scored nine points with Elisson and Schierkolk scoring four points. Smith made three points. Jules Ward and Weber scored two points, and Melissa Ward had one point. McDemott grabbed seven rebounds. Jules Ward had five rebounds and Lofink grabbed four to go along with a team high of two steals.

The Lady Cats take on Burlington in a non-conference road game Friday. Junior varsity is up at 4 p.m. and varsity at 5:30 p.m. At home Saturday, the Lady Cats take on Rocky Mountain once again, with junior varsity starting at noon and varsity at 1:30 p.m..

“They got us 43-37 a couple of weeks ago at Rocky Mountain. They can score the ball well and we will have to look for ways to slow down their top scorer. Hopefully, we can break our offensive doldrums this weekend,” said Sova.

“Our fans have been excellent supporters and we will continue to work hard and play with high energy. The girls are frustrated but continue to be a confident group. We will be ready to go this weekend,” Sova remarked.