Lady Cats top Wheatland on the road

The Lady Bobcat basketball team spent the weekend away, hitting Wheatland on Friday and Torrington on Saturday, coming home with a 1-1 record.

The Lady Cats beat the Wheatland Lady Bulldogs on Friday, 58-31.

Coach Cory Sova said the team shot the ball really well from the field and played consistently offensively for the majority of the game, but did struggle a bit taking care of the ball.

"A few of the errors were mental and unforced," Sova said. "We also gave up way too many offensive rebounds, although a bunch of these were long rebounds."

The girls showed better blocking out compared to the last few weeks, however.

The Lady Bulldogs got way more field goal attempts because of the big number of offensive rebounds as well as having far fewer turnovers than the Cats.

"We were very fortunate that they didn't shoot a decent percentage," Sova said. "We were also 50 percent for free-throws.

"It was fantastic for us to have four girls in double digits for scoring."

McKenna Bomengen struggled with turnovers, but was otherwise outstanding, getting a double-double, working hard for 14 rebounds to go along with her 15 points. She also handed out two assists.

Haley McDermott also had outstanding play, shooting well with 15 points along with four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

"Her senior leadership was awesome," Sova said.

Sesi Jensen also played well, attacking the basket and shooting extremely well. She nearly recorded a double-double with eight rebounds.

"She stayed out of foul trouble and this really helped our team performance," said Sova.

Ashley McPhie was also tremendous with 11 points, a season high eight rebounds and four assists. Aspen Jensen got her first varsity start and played well once she got her feet under her.

Tahja Hunt did a good job moving te ball, which gave the Cats numerous scoring opportunities. Kaylee DeVries pitched in with three rebounds and two stals and Hailie Weber was abe to get in the scoring column with a strong move to the basket.

The Cats consistently outscored the Lady Bulldogs – 16-10 in the first quarter, 12-3 in the second, 15-11 in the third and 15-7 in the fourth.

On Saturday, however, the Lady Cats dropped a close one to Torrington's Lady Trailblazers, 40-46.

With the exception of free-throws, Sova said the girls shot the ball at a solid percentage again, but Torrington got a few more opportunities because of turnover and the Lady Cats allowing too many offensive rebounds.

"Torrington was quick and aggressive, but we only got to the free-throw line 14 times, compared to their 25," Sova said.

Sesi Jensen sat a large portion of the game, which hurt, althou DeVries did a great job getting nine rebounds. She did grab seven rebounds and two steals in her limited minutes.

McDermott shot the ball well, leading the team with four assists and two steals. Bomengen was solid again with 12 points, nine rebounds and two assists.

McPhie got in double figures for scoring again, which was a good lift for the team.

"Torrington is a team that we well might meet again at Regionals with a state berth on the line," Sova said.

All in all, Sova said it was a good weekend with the girls certainly stepping up and working hard to make a bunch of fine plays both offensively and defensively.

"They will need to work on the mental preparation part of rebounding," he said. "We will also work on playing against strong trapping defense to help us take care of the ball better."

The team makes a quick trip to Worland on Thursday for a rematch against the Lady Warriors at 6 p.m. Friday the Cats will host Buffalo for the "Pink Out" games for Cancer Awareness with the game starting at 5:30 p.m.