Lady Cats at home Friday

The Bobcat girls basketball team dropped a pair last weekend, one on the road against Lander and the second at home against Lovell.

Coach Cory Sova said the road game against Lander was a good high school girls game in spite of the 54-51 loss.

“It was very physical, especially down the stretch,” he said. “Way too much pushing and shoving.”

In the fourth quarter, the girls were only able to make it to the free throw line three times, but the Lady Tigers had 15 attempts.

“I was proud of the girls for regaining the lead after falling behind for the first time in the game at the three minute mark of the final quarter,” Sova said. “I thought our girls played with a lot of heart and energy.

“We had lost to these Tigers by a lopsided score just before Christmas. We took care of the ball very well with a team of only 10, which is fantastic.”

Sova said Korey Smith had a nice offensive game, although she struggled shooting from inside and mid-range. She did manage six of nine three-point attempts with a couple of her misses spinning the rim and trickling out.

“She was focused and locked in,” Sova said. “Lizzy (Lofink) moved the ball extremely well for us and dished out eight assists, which is a terrific number.

“Makayla (George) shot the ball nicely and grabbed four offensive and two defensive rebounds as well. It was one of her better all-around games.

“Jules (Ward) also had four rebounds plus one defensive. She really got after it and lead us with two steals.

“Liz (Rhodes) gave us a lift off the bench with four rebounds and McKenna (Bomengen) was also able to come in during the second half and handled the tight game well.

“Ashlynn (Weber) also pitched in wiwth four rebounds and Haley (McDermott) did a good job attacking the basket and made three from the interior and added on three-pointer.”

Saturday found the girls at home against perpetual rival, the Lovell Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Cats had played Lovell before the Christmas break, losing that match by 17 points. This time, the girls came back to narrow that gap, losing by just eight points, 45-37.

“The girls didn’t have a very good start, but were able to hand the ball around,” Sova said. “Lovell did go on a mini run early in the fourth to go up by 12 points. The girls worked hard, but just ran out of time.”

Sova said the team will need to work on trying to get the ball to the basket as they were only able to get to the free-throw line five times.

“Although the girls played extremely hard, we had a hard time getting on the same page on a number of occasions,” he said.

The girls played some extensive minute of zone defense for the first time and Sova is please they are learning quickly.

Smith lead again in this game with 11 points and eight rebounds. Ward crashed in for six offensive rebounds and an additional defensive rebound.

McDermott lead in assists with four against Lovell and Lofink had four steals for the game.

“Sesi (Jensen) was able to get her first varsity action of the year and the freshman responded with a nice catch and shoot near the hoop,” Sova said. “She made her first start count.”

The Lady Cats will be playing their first quadrant games this week.

On Thursday, they will be in Worland and Sova sees this as a tough task since the Lady Warriors are the defending state champs.

“They have size and athleticism with Lyndzie Rich and Bailey Gibbons,” he said. “They have a strong supporting cast, too.”

On Friday, we will host Buffalo at home, a very balanced team with strong, big girls and athletic guards as well.

“They are definitely one of the better 3A teams in the state,” Sova said. “Our girls will continue to work all aspects of the game and get better every day. They have made significant gains since our pre-holiday games. They are definitely headed in the right direction.”

Thursday’s game against Worland will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday’s home game will also start at 5:30 p.m.