Lady Bulldogs fall short of state tourney berth

The 3A West Regional Tournament took place in Thermopolis last week with eight teams vying to advance to the state tournament in Casper.
In the hunt were the second-seeded Lovell Lady Bulldogs from the North.
In the opening round, the Lady Bulldogs faced off against the third seed from the South, the Lyman Lady Eagles.
Lyman was a familiar foe that Lovell had beaten easily only a couple of weeks prior to the tournament.
Although that gave them confidence going into the game, the Lady Bulldogs knew that Lyman wouldn’t go down without a fight.
And fight they did.
Lyman pulled off the upset and defeated the Lady Bulldogs in a 28-27 heartbreaker in the opening round.
The two teams traded baskets early on with Lyman leading 7-5 at the end of the first quarter.
To start the second, both teams had a spurt of chaos and turnovers before Kenadee Rael got going to score six points.
Rael hit a pair of free throws, then scored on some nice passes from Summer Teter and Celeste Lindsay.
After being locked up at 12-12 at the half, Lovell jumped out and outscored the Lady Eagles 8-2 in the third.
That charge was led by Kennadee Owens, who had a nice up-and-under move to two points and grabbed an offensive rebound that resulted in a Lyman foul and her hitting two free throws.
Raegan May also hit a layup after breaking Lyman’s full court press, and Keyanna Walker knocked down a baseline jumper on a sideline inbound play.
Leading 20-14 going into the final frame, Lovell was looking good and on track to take home the victory.
Lyman had other plans and got momentum late, getting to the rim for layups in transition and going on a 13-0 run.
The Lady Bulldogs went scoreless until Breeah Jones hit a three-pointer with 53 seconds remaining that pulled Lovell back within four points.
May drove and made a left-handed layup on another in-bound play to make it 27-25 Lyman before Lovell fouled and the Lady Eagles made one of the free throws to go up three points with 37 seconds left on the clock.
Lyman pressured the guards looking for a perimeter shot opening and left May open for another layup with only 3.8 seconds left.
Hope remained when Lyman missed both free throws only up 28-27, but the final in-bound pass ahead left no shot for the Lady Bulldogs.
“It was just a game where we couldn’t get any offensive rhythm going,” Lovell head coach Chris Edwards said. “Lyman is a proven team come tournament time and have a history of playing well when the pressure is on.”
Lyman ran a 3-2 zone defense that made it difficult for the Lady Bulldogs to initiate their offensive sets and caused 27 Lovell turnovers, most coming in the half court.
“Defensively, we held them to 13 points through three quarters, which we were proud of,” Edwards continued. “Unfortunately, them scoring 14 in the fourth and us going on an eight-minute scoring drought doesn’t result in a good outcome.”
The Lady Bulldogs had a handful of opportunities to score but couldn’t get them to fall.
Rael and May both ended with 6 points in the game for Lovell.
Owens finished with 4, while Jones and Libby Mickelson each had 3 points in the contest. Mickelson also grabbed eight rebounds.
Seniors Walker and Madison Wolvington had 2 points apiece, and Lindsay added 1.
Worland
After the loss to Lyman, that left the Lady Bulldogs facing off against conference foe Worland on Friday morning in a “win-or-go-home” game that Lovell survived and earned the 42-35 victory.
Lovell responded well early and jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first minute and a half of the first quarter.
Worland weathered the storm, and Lovell eventually went cold and had another long stretch of not putting points on the board that put the Lady Warriors up 26-21 at halftime.
The Lady Bulldogs cranked up the defensive effort in the second half and held Worland to only nine points the remainder of the game.
Free throws played a big part in the win for Lovell as the Lady Bulldogs shot 40 as a team, making 23 of them.
“We played physical and attacked the rim well to give us those free throw opportunities to offset another cold shooting game,” Edwards said. “We lived to fight another day.”
The Lady Bulldogs were only 9-of-41 from the field but controlled the boards with 42 rebounds in the game.
Mickelson recorded another double-double for Lovell, scoring
13 points and snagging
13 rebounds.
Teter added 8 points, Rael 7, Owens 6, Jones 4, Walker 2, Wolvington 1 and Becca Nichols 1.
Powell
Unfortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, the first-round loss put them in the part of the bracket that led them to the Lady Panthers from Powell in their final game of the season to clinch a spot at the state tournament.
The Lady Panthers proved to be a tough matchup for the Lady Bulldogs all season and defeated Lovell 53-38 in the season finale.
“We knew facing Powell for the third time would be tough,” Edwards said. “They are a well-rounded team at all positions that can score inside and out.”
Lovell started out strong before Powell’s pressure got to them that resulted in Lady Panther steals and quick buckets in transition.
Although Powell led 26-13 at the half, the Lady Bulldogs competed hard and were only outscored 27-25 the rest of the game.
“We fought to the end, and that’s all we can ask from a group,” Edwards added. “Owens came off the bench and had a good game to lead us offensively while Rael did a great job as point guard and setting up her teammates for success.”
Owens had 12 points for the Lady Bulldogs while freshman post Lindsay added 7 points down low and grabbed five rebounds.
Mickelson finished with 6 points and six rebounds.
Rael scored 5 points but added six assists to her stat column.
Wolvington also added 5 points in the last game of her high school career.
Jones had 2 points, and May hit a free throw to end with 1 point in the contest.
The win secured a spot for Powell to advance to the state tournament along with Pinedale, Mountain View and Lyman to represent the 3A West in Casper this weekend.
Even though it wasn’t the ending they were hoping for, the Lady Bulldogs finished 13-13 on the season.