Freshman girls pull it together

The Lady Bobcat freshman girls basketball team traveled to Buffalo last weekend for a tournament, taking on Worland, Lovell and Powell, finishing with a 1-2 record.

The girls came out strong against the Lady Warriors from Worland and it was a tie game, 23-23, at half time.

Coach Katie Despain said the girls were playing aggressive, smart and tough during the first half, but after the half-time break, they were not ready to play as aggressively.

They let Worland slip 21 points past them in the third quarter which really hurt, but the fourth quarter looked much better, only allowing two points. Unfortunately, the nine points scored by the Lady Cats didn’t have enough momentum to put them over the top and they fell, 46-35.

“It was a good game for the girls to experience,” Despain said. “They learned that they can’t let up at any time in the game – go full force throughout every quarter.”

Top scorer against the Lady Warriors was Elisa Weber with 11, followed by reagan Severance with 10 and Jazmen Jensen with nine. Brianna DeVries popped in three and Rebekah Johnson scored two.

Despain said the girls came out sluggish in their game against Lovell and just couldn’t pick up speed throughout the first three quarters.

They bounced back a bit in the fourth quarter, holding Lovell’s Lady Bulldogs to zero points. The Bulldogs topped the Cats, 32-26.

“It still wasn’t enough to get up over the hump,” Despain said, “but I was super proud of the way they played that quarter. They have a lot of potential as a team!”

Severance led the Lady Cats with 16 points against Lovell. Next in line was Jensen with four, Weber with three and DeVries with two points. Jasmine Collins dropped in one from the free-throw line to finish out the scoring.

And then there were the Lady Panthers from Powell.

“This was an awesome game for the girls,” Despain said. “They came out ready to play and gave it their all throughout all four quarters. They were communicating and working the ball very effectively.”

Severance played well, giving the Cats double digit points for the third game in a row with 13, however, Weber led the girls with 17 against the Panthers. Jensen fielded eight points and DeVries had two.

“Overall, the girls had ups and downs throughout the weekend,” Despain said, “but were able to pull it together right at the end. It was a good progression throughout the day.”

Final score was Lady Cats 40 – Lady Panthers 24.

The girls will be taking on Lander this Friday at the Thermopolis Middle School gym. The game will tip off at 4:30 p.m.