Lady Cats travel to Pinedale

The Lady Cats varsity basketball team traveled to Pinedale last weekend for tournament action.

On Friday, the Lady Cats played the Lyman Eagles, ranked #2 in 3A. “Lyman has a strong program and has always had great shooters on their team” said coach David Villa.

For the first quarter the Lady Cats played well. The score was Lyman 13 and Thermopolis 12. The second quarter Lyman started to get hot and never looked back. The team would go into halftime with the score 31 Lyman and Thermopolis 17. The Lady Cats had only scored 5 points the second quarter.

“We were getting good looks at the rim but our shots were not falling,” said coach Villa.

Lyman would extend their lead by making 10-3 point shots for the game. “It literally felt like an ocean when they shot the ball. I have been in some games where shots went in but it felt like whatever and wherever they shot the ball went in,” added coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would have a better fourth quarter but could not string enough defensive stops and make key shots to rally a comeback. “I was proud of the team in that they never backed down from competing. I told the team that we would be facing some of the best teams in the state that being Lyman and Mountain View and we needed to know how we compared regarding our strengths and weaknesses,” said coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would ultimately lose 71 to 37.

Freshman Kamryn Farrell contributed 10 points along with fellow freshman Jayssie Owsley with 12 points. Juniors Dazlynn Hunt would have 5 points, Jayci Basse with 2 points, Ina King with 2 points and senior Ruth Johnson with 6 points. 

The second game for the Lady Cats would be Saturday against 4A team Star Valley Braves.

“We felt out of the three teams we would face this would be a game we could win.  We chose to play a 2-3 zone against them of which helped in slowing down the game and positioning us to prevent paint touches” said coach Villa.

The start of the game looked promising as the Lady Cats went to a 7-3 lead. 

“Star Valley had only made 13 out of 90 3 point shots so far this season so the team was fine with them shooting from the arc. Each quarter was close but Star Valley seemed to maintain a safe point spread. From the game versus Lyman, we had issues rebounding the ball and it seemed to continue against Star Valley,” said coach Villa.

Halftime score was Star Valley 26 and Thermopolis 16.

“We talked about rebounding being our focus at halftime and how we needed to commit to being physical. We would go on several offensive runs but could not get enough key stops on the defensive side.”

The goal for the program is to have less than 11 turnovers per game and minimum of 25 defensive deflections. The Lady Cats would have over 11 turnovers and not enough deflections particular due to being in a zone. Thermopolis would fall to Star Valley 47 to 34. 

Junior Dazlynn Hunt had 4 points, senior Jayci Basse had 10 points, freshman Kamryn Farrell would contribute 7 points, fellow freshman Jayssie Owsley had 5 points, senior Ruth Johnson had 5 points and junior Kadance Bowman would end up with 3 points.

Saturday afternoon the Lady Cats would face #3 in 3A, the Mountain View Buffalos. Mountain View along with Lyman were both undefeated in their programs.

“Mountain View players had height and were physical. Our goal was to match the physical side of the game, box out and to speed up the tempo. Lady Bobcats did not back down the whole game. As a coaching staff they were asked to leave it all on the floor and to empty the tank. We were very proud of their efforts in not giving up and the will to finish the game strong. We played a 2-3 zone against them and that helped but we could not get key rebounds for the game,” said coach Villa.

Senior Jayci Basse would have 2 points, Maggie Landon 3 points, freshman Kamryn Farrell would have 13 points, and fellow freshman Jayssie Owsley would have 7 points, senior Ruth Johnson would have 8 points and sophomore Austin Slagle would have 2 points.

“I knew we would be tired physically and mentally but I could not ask more from the team. They would end up walking in exhausted to the locker room and we could not have been more prouder of a group of individuals,” added coach Villa.

The Lady Cats would fall to Mountain View 51-35. “This upcoming week the goal is to continue working on our shooting and rebounding,” said coach Villa.

“We are excited to compete in the Big Horn Classic at home this weekend and look forward to seeing how we respond after facing tough competition from earlier in the season” stated coach Villa.