Lady Bulldogs fall to Powell but stop Thermop

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs continued their month-long road schedule this week with a conference game in Powell Thursday and a non-conference contest in Thermopolis Saturday.

Powell topped the Lady Bulldogs 49-36, but the Lovell squad rebounded to beat a tough Thermopolis team 52-50 on Saturday.

Thursday in Powell, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves in a hard-fought battle with a strong Powell squad in which they dug themselves an early hole and could never crawl out.

Three-pointers and turnovers were the bane of the Lady Bulldogs. Seemingly every time Lovell would fight back to within striking distance, Powell would knock down a long bomb.

For example, after Libby Mickelson worked inside for two to cut an early Powell lead to 6-4, the Lady Panthers followed with a jumper followed by a trey from Emery Hernandez, upping the lead to 11-4. Breeah Jones added a three-pointer of her own for Lovell, but Powell led 15-11 after the first quarter.

 A jumper by Kenadee Rael cut the Powell lead to 15-13 early in the second quarter, but two Hernandez free throws and two treys by Coy Erickson around a Rael putback helped extend the Powell lead to 25-15 at halftime. Seven turnovers in the quarter hurt the Lady bulldogs’ efforts to stay in the game.

Lovell head coach Brian May said Powell is a tough matchup for his team, noting, “Their guards are speedy, and they’re good shooters. It looks like they’ve spent a lot of time developing their shooting, so they’re confident in that. Their pressure really got us, too, their full-court pressure.

“Our rebounding wasn’t as good as it had been. We’ve been outrebounding teams. They transition really well, and that got us when we weren’t transitioning back on defense.”

The two teams traded baskets in the third quarter until, leading 29-22, the Lady Panthers put together a 12-2 run to finish the quarter up 41-24.

The Lady Bulldogs played their best basketball in the fourth quarter and at one point cut the lead back to 10 points, 45-35, following an 11-4 run, but Powell went on to win 49-36.

“We kept battling,” May said. “We talked about that. We’ve got to keep having the same intensity and the same fight.”

Rael and Jones led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 points each, and Mickelson added 6, Kennadee Owens 5, Brooklin Clark 4 and Becca Nichols 1. Owens pulled down seven rebounds to lead the team, and Mickelson grabbed five boards. Rael led the team with four assists, Nichols with three steals. Most team statistics were similar between the two clubs, but 24 turnovers cost the Lady Bulldogs many possessions.

Thermopolis

In Thermop Saturday afternoon, the game was tight from start to finish, with neither team able to pull away. The two teams were knotted 13-13 after the first quarter, and Lovell led 30-26 at halftime. Thermop outscored Lovell 16-10 in the third quarter to lead 42-40, but Lovell took charge in the fourth.

With the home team leading 43-40 two minutes into the final quarter, Clark, who had returned from a punch to the face midway through the second quarter that resulted in a Thermop player being ejected, worked inside for a bank shot to cut the lead to 43-42.

After Thermop hit one of two at the line, Raegan May splashed a three-pointer to put Lovell up 45-44. Two free throws put the home team back on top, 46-45, midway through the period, but Owens went 1-2 at the foul line and Clark grabbed the offensive rebound on the second-shot miss and scored, giving Lovell a 48-46 lead.

The Lady Bobcats tied the score at 48 on an inside bank shot, but Clark was clutch at the line with two free throws, putting Lovell up 50-48 with 3:25 on the clock. Both teams recorded multiple empty possessions until Thermop finally tied the score at 50-all with two free throws at the 1:31 mark.

Owens executed a pretty spin-and-bank move with 36 seconds left to put Lovell on top 52-50, and the Lady Bobcats traveled under pressure. Lovell had the lead and the ball with 20 seconds left, but Rael slipped, and the ball scooted out of bounds with nine seconds left, giving Thermopolis one last chance. However, a last second shot missed high off the backboard, and Clark grabbed the rebound and was fouled with less than a second on the clock. With Thermop not in the bonus, all the Lady Bulldogs had to do was get the ball inbounds, which they did, preserving the 52-50 win.

May liked his team’s gutty performance, noting that both Jones and Clark had bloody noses during the game and Owens came back after twisting her knee. The team also played through some foul trouble, he noted. May said the Lady Bulldogs shot the ball better than they did in Powell, especially from the perimeter, but what he really liked was the team’s fight.

“What I’m most proud of the girls for is their resiliency when things didn’t go our way at times,” he said. “It was a good win on the road. We worked through some things and kept battling through and keeping our composure. Our bench was great keeping the girls up – yelling ‘defense’ and being excited when the girls (on the floor) did good things. They (the starters) talked about how encouraging the bench was.”

May also liked his team balance. Rael and Owens scored 9 points each, Jones, Mickelson and Clark 8 apiece, May 7 and Nichols 3. Owens finished with eight rebounds, Jones and Clark five apiece.

On the road again

Now a solid 9-6 on the season, the Lady Bulldogs will make the long road trip to the Southwest 3A this week, playing at Pinedale Friday at 2:30 (JV) and 5:30 p.m. and Lander Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Pinedale (12-1) is the top-ranked team in Class 3A and has multiple guards who can score and handle the ball, May said.

“The Bowers girl (Elyn) is tough. You can tell she’s put time into her game,” he said. “They have multiple players who can shoot it. They will pressure us. We’ve got to be able to handle their pressure.”

Lander is also a good team, May said, noting that the Lady Tigers like to spread the ball around, dribble, penetrate and kick it out to three-point shooters. They will also apply a variety of pressures, he said.

Junior varsity

Like the varsity team, the Lovell junior varsity team split their road games last week, falling to Powell 48-30 but beating Thermopolis 41-34.

Three single-digit quarters cost the Lady Bulldogs at Powell Thursday as the home team led 15-6 after one quarter and 24-12 at halftime. Powell led 36-23 after three and outscored Lovell 12-7 in the fourth to win by 18.

Kaydree Owens led Lovell with 7 points, and Kindle Collins and Jenna Hessenthaler added 6 points each, Kandace Asay 5, Clark 4 and Avery Walker 2.

In Thermopolis Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs trailed 10-9 after one but outscored Thermop 14-9 in the second quarter and 14-11 in the third to lead 37-30 after three. Each team scored 4 points in the fourth.

Hessenthaler led Lovell with 14 points, and Asay added 8, Owens and Clark 6 each, Walker 5 and Collins 2.

“We’ve had a rough couple of weeks, have been battling injuries and illness,” coach Jennifer Hessenthaler said. “We’re hoping to get everyone healthy and get back on track.”