Lady Cats fight back to win against Outlaws

The Lady Bobcats had a 58-51 win on the road Friday as they took on the Lady Outlaws in Rawlins.

Coach Cory Sova said the girls were down by 10 late in the third quarter, but didn't panic and didn't give up, deciding to work their way through one play at a time.

"There was no blame for digging the hole," Sova said, "we just had to keep playing hard and doing the little things better."

They had a quick run against the Lady Outlaws toward the end of the third quarter, out scoring them 8-0 before really pouring it on and outscoring them 25-8 in the last 10 minutes of the game.

"We led early, but Rawlins shot the ball extremely well in the second and third quarters and it looked like their game," Sova said. "The girls are playing their roles better and better, which is making us an improved team.

"We also shot very well, but still missed quite a few threes as well as some other shots near the hoop. Getting to the foul line really helped, although we only made 14/30 attempts."

Sova said the following to Rawlins for the game was great and even noted a few former Bobcats slipped over from Laramie to see the game.

"All the support was awesome and they were treated to some good basketball," he said.

It was Senior Night for the Lady Outlaws, so their gym was definitely packed, giving Sova another thing to work on – hand signals for offensive and defensive calls as the girls had a hard time hearing in the hostile atmosphere.

Coach Sova said Ashlynn Weber very likely had the best game of her career, scoring in a variety of ways and "just pounding the offensive glass". She had seven rebounds to go along with her 15 points, four of which were the result of her work going to get offensive rebounds.

Sova added Haley McDermott demonstrated that she is one of the premier players in the conference at driving the ball to the hoop.

She knocked down eight of 12 free-throws, with five of those coming during crunch time. She added two assists and steals to her performance as well.

Korey Smith hit some nice mid-range shots when the team needed them and finished with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals. Sova said she took care of the ball very well, too.

Lizzy Lofink ran the transition offense well against the Lady Outlaws. She made three of four field goal attempts with her only miss of the day being a three pointer. She also hit three of four big free throws down the stretch.

"As usual, she led us with five assists and three rebounds," Sova said.

Jules Ward garnered three offensive and three defensive rebounds and had two steal to help the Lady Bobcat's cause.

Makayla George grabbed three rebounds to go along with two steals.

McKenna Bomengen got four defensive rebounds and Mary Ryan was able to get back on the court, back into the flow, and did a good job on the defensive side.

Liz Rhodes was able to give Lofink and McDermott a little rest and played with composure and good energy.

The Lady Cats will head to Newcastle on Saturday for their final game of the regular season.

"The Lady Dogies are playing well right now," Sova said, "and this will be a tough test. This game has implications, as with a victory we could possibly end up with a number three seed at the 3A East Regional next weekend in Buffalo.

"We have competed hard and played good basketball the past couple of games, so the girls would like to continue this play as the Regional Tourney is quickly coming."