Lady Cats final home game Thursday

The Lady Bobcat basketball team lost a pair of games over the weekend on their home court, losing to Wheatland's Lady Bulldogs on Friday, 60-40 and to the Lady Trailblazers of Torrington on Saturday, 45-36.

Coach Cory Sova said shots from the free-throw line on Friday against Wheatland were decent at 64%, but the girls struggled with two- and three-pointers throughout the night.

"We had numerous good looks," Sova said. "The girls were moving the ball well and running their offenses, but 26% overall (shooting) hurt our chances."

Sova said Wheatland made nine three-pointers during the game even though they had been struggling with their perimeter shooting for the last couple of weeks.

"We did a good job on their All State guard in the first half," he said, "but she made all of her 16 points in the second half.

"The second and third quarters were our downfall. We did trail 10-2 early, but the girls regrouped and it was 13-12 Wheatland at the end of the first."

Ashlynn Weber made a mix of inside and outside shots and made both of her free-throw attempts. She also had four rebounds and three assists in a good performance against the Lady Bulldogs.

Lizzy Lofink also had four rebounds and led in steals, with four, to go along with three assists.

Sesi Jensen easily had her career high in rebounds at the varsity level on Friday night, grabbing 12.

"She is feeling more and more comfortable and is giving us a needed lift," coach Sova said.

McKenna Bomengen also rebounded well with five plus two assists and steals. Liz Rhodes also had a good rebounding game, getting five, all of which were defensive.

Weber was top scorer for the Lady Cats on Friday night with 12, followed by Jensen with nine, Haley McDermott dropped seven, Korey Smith, five, Bomengen, two, Makayla George had two and Lofink, one.

Saturday night's game against Torrington was a little rough, too.

"Again, we struggled in quarters two and three," Sova said. "We will have to take a look at video and try to get this cleaned up.

"Our shooting, once again, hurt us badly. Our total was 19% from the field. If we could have shot just 29%, it would have been enough to win the game."

Sova said the girls will continue to work on this.

Defensively, the Lady Cats went after Torrington, with the Trailblazers turning the ball over 25 times.

Rebounding was fairly even overall, although the Cats got an impressive 17 offensive rebounds.

McDermott had a solid game with 15 points, six rebounds two assists and four steals. Rhodes, too, had a good game with five rebounds and a season high of four assists.

Jules Ward was able to get back on the court after missing the previous three games and grabbed three rebounds and three steals.

Jensen and Ashlie McPhie each garnered five rebounds while Bomengen, George and Smith each had four.

"This week will be an emotional one as Thursday's game against Worland will be Senior Night," Sova said. "Hopefully we will have a big crowd on hand as these girls step on their court for the final time.

"Makayla (George), Jules (Ward), Lizzy (Lofink), Korey (Smith), Ashlynn (Weber) and Liz (Rhodes) have certainly meant a lot to Lady Bobcat basketball the past four years," coach Sova said. "They all are among our finest kids at HSCHS and have bright futures. It should be a special night."

Thursday's game will also be the "Pink Out" game in honor of cancer awareness, so fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game.

On Friday, the Cats head over the mountain for a rematch with the Buffalo Lady Bison.

"Both Worland and Buffalo are definitely in the top echelon of the conference and will be huge tests for us," Sova said. "We have a hard time matching these team's size and athletic ability, so we will have to play hard, smart and together to be successful."