Lady Cats win against Worland

Last Thursday, the varsity Lady Bobcats basketball team played in Worland for their 4th conference game, with Thermopolis coming out with a win, 43-40.

“It was a much needed game in just trying to break the streak of losing.” stated Coach David Villa.

Both teams would come out swinging with offense and defense.

“Worland has some very tall players and knowing we would be outmatched height wise we chose to play man to man and use our speed. It is always a fun time playing Worland in Worland. The crowd gets into it and the overall atmosphere is great. We had lost our game in Thermopolis vs. Worland and I’m sure that Worland felt they had the upper edge against us. However, as a team we have continued to progress and show great promise,” said coach Villa.

The girls would play well in the first and fourth quarter. Worland would control the second and third quarter offensively.

“There were some great moments for us during the game. We only had three players score for the entirety of the game.”

The team had some key rebounds from Ina King and Ruth Johnson. Johnson led the team with 11 deflections. Dazlynn Hunt had been recovering from an ankle injury and it was a key game in testing it out. She would provide some speed and great defense for the team. Jayci Basse also played well with her defense. Kadance Bowman would provide some key minutes for the team in moving the ball, and Austin Slagle assisted with some great post defense coming off the bench.

“The game would take us to the fourth quarter with a 40-40 score with just two seconds in the game. I had one timeout left and drew up a play for Jayssie Owsley to shoot a quick three. I told her she had enough time to get off a good shot. Though Worland would read the defense and closed out on Jayssie, she was able to get off a shot and win the game for us to prevent overtime with a bank 3 point shot. It was exciting for the team and all the fans. Plus it gave us our first conference win,” said coach Villa.

Owsley scored 25 points int he game and Kamryn Farrell 14 and Johnson 4.

Last Friday, the Lady Cats would travel to Lander to play the Tigers.

“We felt good about this game and perhaps trying to ride off our win versus Worland. The first half was slow starting for both teams. We looked tired and could not get into any flow offensively. We normally want to push the ball but in this game we played more cautious. I know that some of our players are not used to the long haul of the season and perhaps the physical side had shown more. Our intent was to play man to man against them. I had lost most of my voice against Worland so Coach Despain would assist in calling out plays. One thing we had told the girls was to expect Lander to play physical and to not pay attention to the student section as they always heckle during the game,” said coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would take the lead the first half 14-13. However, the second half Lander would control. The physical play from Lander would continue and at one point Lander’s top scorer would land a left elbow to Jayssie’s Owsley’s jaw. She ended up leaving the game for a period but would return.

“This is just one example of how tough the team is in general. We have faced numerous injuries all season long but we have persevered through it all. We would fall short with Lander 53-27 Thermopolis. In the Fourth quarter we could not get off any points and Lander would just pull away. Despite all that being said there were moments where we were still within reach of the game,” said coach Villa.

Johnson scorded 9 points, Basse 2, Hunt 1 and  Bowman 2, Slagle 2, Owsley 10 pts and Farrell with 1.

Coach Villa said, “This week we will host our last home game versus Lovell on Friday. It will be our pink out game.” Saturday the team will travel to Powell.

“Both games are critical in conference play. Our goal this week is to work on our tempo, rebounding and getting plenty of shooting in,” added coach Villa. 

See the Hot Springs County High School calendar on this page for a complete list of games and times.