Lady Cats end season at regional tournament

The varsity Lady Cats basketball team traveled to Mountain View last week for 3A West Regional Tournament action.

On Thursday, the Lady Cats faced the Pinedale Wranglers, falling with a final score of 55-20.

“Pinedale was a strong team and would be a tough matchup for us. We had a game plan of forcing traps on at halfcourt to cause disruption in their offense. They had two solid players that could handle the ball and a decent post player who cleaned up underneath the rim as well as getting second chance opportunities with her rebounding,”said coach David Villa.

Early in the morning, Villa would get news that Kamryn Farrell was sick and was not sure of her ability to play that afternoon. “So, we went with the idea we would start Ina King and look to play a 1-2-2 zone defense along with man to man,” said coach Villa.

Prior to the girls starting the game, the other freshman Jayssie Owsley would report to the coaching staff that she had similar symptoms and was unsure of her ability to play.

Going into regionals anything can happen, upsets are made, and adjustments sometimes come without warning.

“We would go into the game with plan C and felt the girls would respond. Early in the first half we did not take enough shots. The team played tight and was not attacking like we are accustomed to doing. The first half we would be down 35 to 4. Pinedale continued with their full court press with the assumption they were trying to mercy rule us the second half. We were able to prevent that and kept clawing back into the game.” said coach Villa.

Though Owsley would attempt several times to play she was unable to be herself on the court.

“I was proud that we continued to work on our defense and attacking the rim. During one timeout, I stated to the team that we needed to get some flow on both ends-of which I felt we had accomplished,” added coach Villa.

Scoring: Dazlynn Hunt 5 points, Maggie Landon 3, Kadance Bowman with 3, Owsley would have 3, Charlee Slagle 2 and Austin Slagle with 4.

 On Friday, the Lady Cats faced the Lovell Bulldogs. The girls took the court with the mindset there was a good chance to win this game.

Both freshman Kamryn Farrell and Jayssie Owsley would attempt to play in the game, but it was evident they were not at their full strength. They played the whole game but there were moments you could see they were spent physically.

“We were proud of their effort in playing and giving us an opportunity to win the game. The whole team was very involved from those who played as well as the bench support. We were very proud of their effort and fight to win the game. We felt the girls gave everything they had to pull a comeback victory. With limited shots going in the first half we had to gain a lot of ground offensively in the second half. At halftime the score was 28 to 12,” said coach Villa.

The girls would start hitting their shots near the end of the 3rd quarter and well into the 4th quarter they were as close as 13 points. “I really felt like the momentum was swinging our way,” said coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would fall short losing to Lovell, 60 to 43. 

Scoring: Owsley 14 points, Farrell 18, C. Slagle 1, Hunt 4, Ina King 1, Ruth Johnson 4 and Jayci Basse with 2.

“As a coaching staff we were proud of the girls’ fight in Regionals and the season overall. Though we would fall short of reaching our goal of making it to state, we did show progress, more wins as an overall program, and a lot of growth individually,” said coach Villa.

The Lady Cats did not qualify to compete at the State Tournament this week.