Lady Cats see mixed results

Hot Springs County High School’s Lady Bobcat basketball teams had nine games this past week- end, three for the varsity, three JV and three fresh- man games at the Pinedale Winter Classic and the Freshman Buffalo Tournament.

The Varsity came out on top of Big Piney in the first round, 32-15, playing great defense and holding Big Piney to just one point in the first half.

The Lady Cats forced 27 turnovers and played suffocating defense the entire game.

Sesi Jensen lead the team with six rebounds, including three offensive. Kaylee DeVries also helped with the defensive effort, recording four steals.

Ashley McPhie and McKenna Bomengen lead the way in scoring with 10 and eight points respectively. Their second game, against Lyman, didn’t turn out as well with them falling 29-49. “Cold shooting and turnovers were costly,” coach Matt McPhie said. “Lyman posed problems with their length and our girls struggled to take care of the ball. They dug themselves in a big hole early, but we were proud of the effort they gave the entire game.”

Jensen had nine rebounds against Lyman, four of which were on the offensive end. Elisa Weber played great defense and lead the way with four steals.

On the scoring side, the girls were led by Bomengen with 12 points.

Unfortunately, the girls came up short against Pinedale in their third and final game of the tournament, finishing with a 47-62 loss.

Once again, a slow start hamstrung the team. They trailed early and battled to close the gap to 20-28 going into the half. The second half, they scored well, but had trouble defending when Pinedale pulled away late.

“The team is improving each contest,” McPhie said, “and this weekend we faced tougher competition as the girls learned a lot about what we need to improve to be competitive with the 3A teams in the state.

In the Pinedale game, Bomengen and Jensen lead the team with six and five rebounds while McPhie had three steals.

There were four girls with nine or more points, including Weber and Jensen with 10 each and Bo- mengen and Reagan Severance, each with nine.

The JV team had an identical weekend to the varsity team, winning over Big Piney before dropping a close one, 27-29 to Pinedale.

Coach Dana Bjorhus said Severance and Bri DeVries were the leading scorers in the Pinedale match, scoring seven each.

Their third game was a 16-34 loss to Lyman.

Severance led the scoring with five points, followed by Jazmen Jensen with four.

“There are a few things we will need to focus on this week before heading to Powell,” Bjorhus said, “but there were also a lot of positives from our games.”

The freshmen Lady Cats had a great weekend in Buffalo, coming out on top with all three of their games.

In their first game, the girls took on Thermopolis’ arch rival, Worland, bringing down the win 30-27. Mariah Brooks lead the scoring with 11 points, followed by Layne Myers with six, Julie Johnson with five, Caydence Steadman with four and Bronwyn Dobbins and Kamry Bowman with two points each.

Next on the list, the girls brought home a win against Lovell, 47-34.

Brooks lead the scoring again with 15 points this time, followed by Dobbins with 12, Bowman with 11, Johnson, six, Steadman two points and Myers with one point from the freethrow line.

Finishing up the weekend, the Lady Cats wiped out Powell, 36-20 with Brooks leading the way with 23 points.

Dobbins garnered six points, Johnson three and Steadman and Bowman each added two to the win column.

“I was very impressed by the way the girls played as a team throughout the games,” said coach Katie Despain. “Their communication and defense was lacking at times, but once they started to realize it they stepped up, which allowed them to come home with three wins.

JV and varsity will be up next at the Big Horn Basin Classic in Powell on Friday and Saturday and the freshman will travel to Worland on Tuesday, Jan. 15.