Your source for news in Hot Springs County

Lady Cats fall in close game against Glenrock

On Friday, December 16, the Lady Cats varsity basketball team traveled to Glenrock High School.

“Our scouting report would be to focus on stopping #23 Sarvey who had been averaging over 22.7 ppg and clearly their best player. She would end up with 28 points that night,” said coach David Villa.

He added, “We came out the best we had all year. The game against Burns was an initial look as to how good we could be but against Glenrock our offense and defense were spot on. We would lead after the 1st quarter 10-9 and the momentum was going our way. Going into the 2nd quarter our defense was forcing turnovers against Glenrock and would take us into halftime 34 to 24. I told the team at halftime not to get too comfortable and to approach the 3rd quarter at a 0-0 mindset. We needed to focus on our pressure defense, our approach on breaking the press and rebounding strong.”

At one point during the first half, the Lady Cats had a 17-point lead, but Glenrock would start to chip away due to turnovers and mental mistakes.

Glenrock was relentless on their defense. “We knew they wouldn’t stop bringing the pressure and we needed to respond accordingly. The second half we weren’t shooting as well as the first half but continued doing good things on both sides of the court,” said coach Villa.

Senior Ruth Johnson and Freshman Kamryn Farrell led the team in scoring, Johnson with 11 points and Farrell with 12.

“We had a total of eight players scoring in this game which was a nice spread of offense. The team has been told we need to average 45 plus ppg, minimum of 25 deflections and -11 turnovers ppg.” Junior Dazlynn Hunt had a strong game defensively and would score five points, senior Jayci Basse with six points, freshman Jayssie Owsley with six points, junior Maggie Landon with four points, sophomore Austin Slagle with 3 points and Hanna Hill with two points.

Coach Villa stated, “There were so many great moments that I was proud of the group for. A lot of what we faced in this game was valuable to us as a team and what we needed to continue improving on: protecting the ball at critical moments, getting quality shots, and rebounding both offensively and defensively.”

The last five minutes of the game were pretty intense. The Lady Cats would continue with a small lead but could not buy a bucket when needed to. “In watching our game film there were multiple times we had to clinch the game but could not close it out,” said coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would fall to the Glenrock Herders 49 to 54.

On Saturday, the Lady Cats traveled to Buffalo High School.

“We felt that the Glenrock game would prepare us for Buffalo especially with the ball pressure that would come. In watching the initial game film against Buffalo, we had opportunities to build our confidence with some early offense, but we fell short. We even had some initial defensive stops but could not cash in on those either,” said coach Villa.

Buffalo is ranked #5 in the state and had just beat the 4A Sheridan Broncs the night before.

Coach Villa said, “We knew they would be tough, and I told the team in order for us to continue improving we want to face the best. I truly feel if we had started out strong our mindset would have been different.”

Buffalo would outscore the Cats 29 to 2 the first quarter. They continued with their full court press, and the Lady Cats forced the ball over way past their goal of -11. As the game went on, the Cats could not gain any confidence with defense, nor offense.

“In games like this they become teaching moments for the team. I was asked what our locker room mood was like, and I had stated we were in a good place. It was a time to reflect on our roles as players and goals established for the year. In order for us to be where we need to be as a team, we need to face adversity and not run from it. I told the team to embrace adversity and the difficulties that come with competing as they will translate to real life. Coach Weinberger even had the group reflect on where they wanted to be as individuals and what they needed to contribute to the team. It was good for players to be transparent with us coaches,” said coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would fall to Buffalo 65-15. Coach Villa said, “ I firmly believe it will foster a desire to improve and grow as a team. Every team is beatable, as we see it on a local level as well as a professional level. Great teams lose all the time. Our program goal is that teams would rethink about wanting to play us. As a coaching staff we are encouraged by what we have seen the past few weeks. And though we were dealing with sickness and injuries the Lady Bobcats continue to fight and improve. No matter the outcome of recent games the culture of this program is moving forward and will be a force to reckon with.”

The Lady Cats will be back in action after Christmas break.

 

Reader Comments(0)