Lady Cats go two and two

Last weekend, the Hot Springs County High School Lady Cats Basketball Team hosted the first of two, back-to-back, tournaments. Each team had four scheduled games over the two-day event, and with 16 teams competing, the action was dispersed between the schools in Thermopolis and Shoshoni.

Friday afternoon found the Lady Cats pitted against the Rams from Big Horn High School. In a game that was never in doubt, the Lady Cats won by a score of 59 to 38. In the first quarter, Thermopolis ran up six unanswered points before the Rams were able to get on the scoreboard. An unrelentless full-court press, left the Rams discomfited, and led to three time outs called in the first few minutes of the contest.

After their third time-out, the Rams deployed their own press, exposing the Lady Cats continuing lack of ability to work their way out of pressured situations, which in turn affects their ability to maintain, what was otherwise, an affective intensity, and offensive performance. As a result, the Lady Rams brought the score to a tie at 14 points. But that was as close as the Rams would come.

Friday night, the Lady Cats took on the number one ranked team from Tongue River, who had defeated Class 3A Burns earlier in the day. At games end, the Lady Cats would be down by a score of 57 to 44. The Eagles are a very good team, and would eventually win all four of their games in the tournament.

On Saturday morning, the Lady Cats played a very good team from Wright. The Lady Panthers went one and one on Friday, with a win against Shoshoni, and a loss to Pine Bluffs. Against Wright, the Lady Cats played an assertive game, which caused a good deal of unforced errors by the Panthers, but which also resulted in some foul trouble for the home team.

When Jayssie Owsley stepped out in foul trouble, Charlee Slagle came off the bench to put in some quality minutes for the Lady Cats. Playing along side Austin Slagle, the two sisters proved to be a very competent, and complimentary duo – passing to one another with skill, and taking effective shots whenever the opportunity arose. It was an all-around well-played game, in which the Lady Cats demonstrated their developing skills of passing, shooting, and ball control.

In the final game for the Lady Cats, they came away with an overtime loss to the Lady Bulldogs of Sundance. Although they played a really tight game through four quarters, the Lady Cats lost a bit of focus and intensity in the overtime period. With the Bulldogs up by four, and just two minutes left on the clock, Sundance went into a clock management mode, playing to possess the ball, and the Lady Cats let precious time evaporate off the clock - ultimately settling their fate in the contest.

This weekend, the Lady Cats will host their second tournament this month, in the Big Horn Basin Classic. Games are scheduled on Friday and Saturday, and will again, bring some quality basketball to the local scene.