Lady Bulldogs make a splash at State, upset 3A East top seed Wheatland

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs represented their program and their school well at the state basketball tournament in Casper last week, winning one of three games and stopping the top seed out of the 3A East in the opening round.

Lovell shocked 3A East champion Wheatland 57-48 Thursday at the Ford Wyoming Center, fell to fellow West Regional foe Lander 42-21 in the semifinals Friday at Casper College and played defending state champion Douglas for third place Saturday morning at the college, falling 38-32.

Lovell 57, Wheatland 48

The Lady Bulldogs pulled off the upset of the tournament Thursday morning when they upset Wheatland in a Bulldog vs. Bulldog matchup.

Wheatland came into the game 22-4 and had run the table in conference and regional tournament games. The Platte County Lady Bulldogs also had the top scorer in the state in junior Lily Anderson, who came into the game averaging 28.3 points per game. No matter. The Lady Bulldogs of Lovell were hitting on all cylinders at both ends of the court, playing strong defense against Anderson with a box-and-one defense and shooting better than they have in weeks at the other end of the court.

“We did have a pretty good game plan of rotating kids on their best player, Anderson,” Lovell head coach Brian May said, noting the defense of Becca Nichols and Avery Walker, plus Jenna Hessenthaler and Macie Anderson off the bench.

“We did know going into it that they would probably hit some threes with us playing the box and one on her,” May said. “The goal was just to make sure that somebody made her work full court. That’s what our goal was, just to stick with her and not leave her all the way up the court, make her work dribbling it up and then once she got rid of it, try not to let it get back into her hands.

“I thought all four of those players did a great job that were assigned to do that, made her earn her 19 points.”

Just as important was much better offensive execution than the Lady Bulldogs had enjoyed in recent weeks.

“I just think what put us over the top was just our ability to score and hit shots,” May said. “So our shooting percentage was awesome, probably one of our best shooting games of the year, and from the line, too.”

Wheatland led early, 4-2, but Lovell reeled off 10 straight points to lead 12-4 as twin sisters Ali and Avery Walker hit two baskets each. Lovell turnovers late in the quarter allowed Wheatland to cut into the lead as LHS led 12-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Lovell went up 14-8 on a move and jumper by Ali Walker early in the second quarter, but Wheatland battled back and shot well from downtown, draining four three-pointers in the quarter to lead 23-21 before a drive in transition and a lefty hook shot by Ali Walker gave Lovell a 26-23 halftime lead.

Ali Walker hit five of five shots from the field in the half to lead the team with 10 points, and freshman Morgan Harshman tallied six rebounds and three assists. Sharpshooter Anderson wasn’t sharp for Wheatland, going 1-5 from the field, though 5-6 from the foul line to score 7 points.

Lovell turned it up a notch in the third quarter and outscored Wheatland 15-7 to build a 41-30 lead after three. Ali Walker scored 8 points in the quarter including a pair of treys, and Brooklin Clark added 5.

The two teams traded baskets in the fourth quarter as Wheatland could get no closer than eight points, and although Wheatland outscored Lovell 18-16, Lovell easily fended off all rallies in spite of four more Wheatland treys and seven Lovell turnovers. Lovell won by nine, 57-48.

Lovell finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field, 62.5 percent in the second half, while Wheatland shot 31 percent from the field, 28.6 percent in the second half. Wheatland did finish with eight three-pointers, though Anderson hit only one of eight shots from beyond the arc, 5 of 14 overall against Lovell defenders to finish with 19 points, nine points under her average.

“We did a great job, because they were trying to set some baseline screens for her, and our girls had to communicate that,” May said. “Some of our girls got hung up on it until we made some adjustments like, “Hey, you’ve got to go a different route. You can’t trail her, because if you do, you’re going to get stuck.’”

Lovell outrebounded Wheatland 28-21.

Ali Walker finished with 20 points on 8-8 shooting from the field, 2-2 at the free throw line. Clark added 16 points, Avery Walker 9, Hannity Felkins 7, Harshman 3 and Macie Anderson 2. Clark pulled down 12 rebounds for a double-double, and Harshman snared seven caroms.

“It was a big lift for our girls, being that young and not having been in that position for a while,” May summed up. “They just came out outstanding, with high energy, and played great.

“They were pumped up (after the game). They were just excited, jumping up and down, and just thrilled for the outcome.”

The win improved the Lady Bulldogs to 17-10 on the season and advanced them to the semifinal game against Lander Friday afternoon at Casper College.

Lander 42, Lovell 21

Friday the 13th was not kind to the Lady Bulldogs. Normally, a team will shoot better at Casper College than the Ford Wyoming Center, which has deceptive space behind each basket, but such was not the case for the Lady Bulldogs Friday as they were ice cold against Lander in a 21-point loss, shooting only 20 percent from the field.

“It’s just been a season against some of those teams that have a little bit more maturity and have some all-state players on their teams where we’ve just struggled in those games. And Lander is one of those teams,” May said. “They have multiple kids that can shoot and take it to the basket. And I thought the Reinhardt girl (Daegan) really kind of dominated on the inside, too. So we were struggling scoring from the inside, but then from the outside, as well.

“We didn’t get any second chance points during that game, and then I think we started getting a little bit tighter as the lead kind of got away from us. And that’s something we hope that we grow in.”

Both teams struggled to find the basket early, and halfway through the first quarter, Lander held a 4-0 lead. Clark finally broke the ice for Lovell with a jumper in the key, making the score 4-2, but three-pointers by Lander scoring guards Daisy Goklish and Breana Lincoln boosted the Lady Tigers to a 10-2 lead, and they went on to lead 14-3 at the quarter break.

It was more of the same in the second quarter as Lander scored 9 straight points after an early jumper by Avery Walker to lead 23-5 at halftime. Lovell shot just 11 percent from the field in the first half – 2 for 18.

Lovell actually reached double figures in the third quarter, scoring 10 points, but Lander scored 15 to lead 38-15 after three. Lovell edged Lander 6-4 in the fourth, falling 42-21.

The Lady Bulldogs didn’t have a player in double figures. Nichols, Avery Walker and Clark scored 5 points each, Kaydree Owens and Anderson 3 apiece. Clark led with six rebounds.

“Lander’s a solid team. They’ve only lost five games, and four of them have been against Cody. We just really thought that we could play them closer than what the outcome was. I think it just goes to being confident. We weren’t as confident against Lander as we were the night before.”

Douglas 38, Lovell 32

Casper College wasn’t friendly to the Lady Bulldogs again Saturday morning as they shot just 30 percent from the field in a six-point loss to Douglas, who defeated Pinedale 39-37 Friday afternoon, then fell to eventual champion Cody 60-27 Friday evening.

“They don’t really have a lot of great ballhandlers, but they’re big and their size caused some issues with us,” May said. “We struggled in the first half. I thought our second half was much better, but we just got off to a slower start and seemed to be playing catch-up the whole game.”

Bank shots by Avery Walker and Felkins put Lovell up 4-2 early, but the Lady Bulldogs only scored a single free throw the rest of the quarter to trail 10-5 after one. Continuing to struggle in the second, the Lady Bulldogs found the range just once from the field in the quarter, an inside spin move by Harshman to go with three free throws. Douglas won the quarter 9-5 to lead 19-10 at halftime. Lovell shot just 17.6 percent from the field (3-17) in the half.

A personal 5-2 run by Felkins early in the third quarter cut the Lovell deficit to 6 points, 21-15, and a late trey by Owens cut the Douglas lead to four, 24-20, before a steal and fast-break bucket by Leah Ewing gave Douglas a 26-20 lead after three.

Lovell trimmed the deficit to five three times in the fourth quarter but could never get any closer as Douglas went to the foul line 17 times in the final quarter, hitting eight, to hold the Lady Bulldogs at bay and win, 38-32.

“We had our chances, but I think with their size, we were having a hard time rebounding and getting second chance points and then just shooting the ball again and being confident,” May said. “We were hoping to get some baskets in transition, and that never really came to pass. We did go to a 1-3-1, half-court trap in the third quarter, and I think that gave us a little bit of momentum.”

The Lady Bulldogs shot better in the second half, 33.3 percent, but were still cold, ending the game shooting 30 percent from the field. Douglas shot just 31 percent from the field but went to the line 27 times compared to Lovell’s 11, hitting 14 of the 27 shots, while Lovell went 6 for 11.

Nichols and Felkins scored 7 points each for the Lady Bulldogs, Clark 5, Harshman and Ali Walker 4 each, Owens 3 and Avery Walker 2. Felkins snared six rebounds, Nichols and Avery Walker five apiece. Avery Walker tallied five steals in the game.

The game was the final contest for senior Nichols, but 11 players return next season from the state tournament roster.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the season 17-12.

“We’re excited about the girls that we have (coming back), and just really impressed with the 16 girls that went out this year,” May said. “We really feel like we have a group that loves to play. They love each other and just like being around each other, and they wanted to get better.

So we’re excited about these girls coming back, and hopefully we can retain them all. They’ve just been great to coach.

“I think we probably have about seven, eight, nine eighth graders coming to us, so we’re excited about them.”