Lady Bulldogs solid in win at Worland, loss to Cody

With just two weeks left in the regular season, the Lovell Lady Bulldogs appear to be hitting their stride as a pair of solid performances over the weekend demonstrated.

Thursday, the Bulldogs knocked off the Worland Warriors in Worland, 42-33, and Saturday at home, they gave undefeated and top-ranked Cody a run for their money before falling 59-35.

“I thought our girls really brought a lot of good energy, played with a lot of intensity and played together,” head coach Brian May said. “They just worked really hard in each game.”

Defense was the difference in Worland Thursday. May said his team did a great job on Worland senior Kat Navarro, who came into the game averaging 16.5 points per game but was held to just 6 points. May said the Lady Bulldogs alternated between man and zone on defense, but when in man, senior Becca Nichols and sophomore Avery Walker were solid guarding Navarro.

“They just did a really good job making sure they stayed in front of her, because she’s kind of a slasher and likes to get to the basket. She doesn’t shoot many threes,” May said. “And you always have to have your help side, back side defenders there to help, as well. So just an overall good team defensive effort.”

Playing on Senior Night, the homestanding Warriors came out with great energy both on offense and in their 1-3-1 zone defense, May said. Worland led 13-8 after the first quarter, and Lovell outscored the home team 12-8 in the second as Worland led at intermission 21-20. Each team scored 9 points in the third, and Worland led 30-29 after three.

The Lady Bulldogs took over the game in the fourth and outscored Worland 13-3 to win by nine.

“We went to our full-court pressure, and the girls just rotated in it really well,” May said. “We got some turnovers in that quarter, and we were able to get to the line, as well. Becca hit a big three to kind of get us going, too. But I just think our overall defensive pressure kind of took over in that quarter.”

The Bulldogs went to the free-throw line 12 times in the fourth, hitting six, and May said it was important to be patient with the ball once they had the lead and make Worland foul.

Brooklin Clark led the team with 15 points, and Avery Walker added 14, Ali Walker 6, Kaydree Owens 4 and Nichols 3. Avery Walker snared nine rebounds, Clark eight and Nichols four. Walker tallied four assists, Hannity Felkins three. Clark led with four steals, and Owens and Avery Walker had three apiece.

Cody loss

The Lady Bulldogs battled the powerful Cody Fillies Saturday in a game that never got out of hand, such as Lovell’s 82-46 loss in Cody on January 13 or in Cody’s win over Buffalo the night before when Cody star Grace Hays outscored the entire Buffalo roster with 41 points in the 74-38 win.

Hays scored “just” 22 points against Lovell Saturday, but dead-eye shooter Sydney Simone hit six three-pointers on her way to 20 points.

“I just think overall our girls just competed,” May said. “They kept their composure, and they kept after it, both defensively and offensively. I think offensively, if we could have had a few more girls hit some shots, that that could have helped us, but overall, we wanted to put some full-court pressure on them, and I think that slowed them down.

“They had 18 turnovers, so I thought that was good. And then we did pretty good in our zone defense. We played a 1-3-1 at times, or a 2-3, and sometimes we just didn’t get rotated quick enough. Hays averages, what, 27 a game, and in general, Cody averages about 68 a game. So you’ve got to take some wins from that somehow.”

Avery Walker drained a trey from the corner to start the game, and the Lady Bulldogs were hanging tough trailing 7-5 after a put-back from Ali Walker before Cody finished the first quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 17-5.

Cody led 23-8 early in the second quarter following a pair of three-pointers by Macy Ball and Simone, but a pair of jumpers by Avery Walker and a power drive by Clark kept the Bulldogs close trailing 25-14 before a late Ball jumper put the Fillies up 27-14 at halftime.

Lovell outscored Cody 11-8 in the third quarter to pull within 10 points, 35-25, at the quarter break, but treys by Simone and Hays on either side of a pair of missed free throws by Lovell boosted the Cody lead to 16 points, 41-25, and they gradually pulled away from there for the 24-point win, 59-35.

Avery Walker had a strong game for the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points and six rebounds, hitting six of 11 shots from the field and five of six at the foul line. Owens scored 5 points, Kandace Asay 4, Nichols, Ali Walker and Clark 2 points each, Felkins 1.

May praised Avery for her strong and consistent game and said Asay and Owens played well off the bench.

“To be right there within 10 points at the end of the third quarter is awesome,” May said. “It’s just hard to maintain because Cody just gives you constant pressure on both ends of the floor. They’re physical, and they’re guarding you tight. They’re sticky, just there all the time on defense, and they’re getting hands on balls and things. But I thought our girls, for the most part, did a really good job handling that pressure.”

“You could tell by their (Cody) body language and how they were playing that they knew they were in a battle, and so I’m just proud of our girls for their overall effort.”

Long road trip

Now 12-7 overall, the Lady Bulldogs will make the long trip to Uinta County this week to play Lyman Friday and Mountain View Saturday. Lyman is 9-6 overall but just 1-5 in the 3A West after falling to Pinedale 53-35 on Friday. Mountain View is 4-13, 0-6 in conference play after falling to Lander Friday, 57-16, and beating 3A East opponent Rawlins 35-20 on Saturday.

“Lyman’s an athletic group; I think they’re just consistent,” May said. “They work hard, and they have a couple of girls that can hit double figures and rebound well. These are two important games going into Regionals and where we’re going to sit in the standings.

“You just look at Mountain View’s record, and they haven’t been as solid this year as they have been in the past, but you can’t take that for granted. Hopefully we can dictate our tempo and what we want to do offensively and defensively in both games.”

Tip-off times are 4 and 5:30 p.m. in Lyman Friday and 9:30 and 11 a.m. Saturday in Mountain View.