Lady Bulldogs struggle with top teams in Lander

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs found themselves in Lander for the second straight week Friday and Saturday, this time playing in the East-West Classic. They won one of three games against stiff competition, including the top-ranked team in the state, Douglas.

Powerful Douglas crushed the Lady Bulldogs 72-28 Friday, and Wheatland stopped Lovell 53-37 Saturday morning. But Lovell closed out the tournament by clobbering Burns 70-21 Saturday afternoon.

“I kind of felt like our team didn’t respond overall to the higher-level competition and handling the pressure that really good athletes give you,” head coach Brian May said. “We had a lot more turnovers than we wanted to have, and our offensive execution suffered for not being able to handle that pressure.

“You struggle to even get into things. The kids have to be able to adjust to that pressure, maintain their composure and run our offense and be patient with it.”

Douglas

Defensive pressure disrupted the Lovell offense Friday as the Lady Bulldogs hit only eight baskets compared to 27 for Douglas.

“It seemed like we were always in a rush,” May said, “and it was not necessarily the full-court pressure, it was also the half-court pressure. They extend their defense and get into you – right in your pocket. The girls have to be able to read the defensive pressure and react accordingly. Douglas has defenders who will get into you.”

Douglas dominated the game from the get-go, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 16-2, 25-8, 16-11 and 15-7 in the four quarters. Lauren Olsen outscored Lovell herself, 30-28.

The Lady Bulldogs were led by Libby Mickelson with 7 points, and Kennadee Owens added 5, Becca Nichols, Kenadee Rael and Breeah Jones 4 each, Celeste Lindsay 3 and Brooklin Clark 1.

Wheatland

The Wheatland game Saturday morning was closer, and while the Lady Bulldogs still struggled to put points on the board, Wheatland sophomore guard Lily Anderson did not. The Wheatland dynamo hit four three-pointers en route to 29 points.

May noted Anderson’s “ability to penetrate and get by people,” adding, “We weren’t rotating defensively like we should have.”

Lovell struggled to connect in the game, hitting just 10 of 50 shots overall, two of 15 from three-point range.

“We had a lot of opportunities to score, but we weren’t putting the ball in the basket,” May said. “We also had 21 turnovers.

“We did out-rebound them fairly well (39-26), but that goes to the areas we’re trying to improve on – our perimeter shooting. Teams are packing the post, and we need to find some girls who can score from the perimeter.”

The score was knotted 8-8 after the first period, but Wheatland won the next two quarters by a combined 36-18 and cruised in the final quarter.

Owens led Lovell with 12 points, and Lindsay added 9, Nichols and Mickelson 6 each, Jones and Clark 2 apiece. Lindsay and Owens grabbed 10 rebounds each, Clark six.

Burns

The Lady Bulldogs took advantage of a tired Burns team Saturday to rout the Laramie County team 70-21. May said he changed up the starting lineup to get more offensive production, including outside shooting, and he also gave some more minutes to sophomore shooter Jenna Hessenthaler, who drained three treys in the contest.

The scoring certainly improved, and May noted that nine players scored against Burns.

Lovell jumped on top 25-6 by the end of the first quarter and outscored Burns 23-8 in the second to lead 48-14 at halftime.

“Some full-court pressure allowed us to get some easy baskets. We had some steals and transition baskets,” May said. “One thing we’ve done well all year is rebound, but we need to convert offensive rebound into points.”

Mickelson scored 14 points for the Lady Bulldogs, Hessenthaler 12, Jones and Owens 10 apiece, Lindsay 8, Rael 7, Clark 5 and Nichols and Raegan May 2 apiece.

The Lady Bulldogs will return after the Christmas and New Years break by hosting Rocky Mountain on Friday, Jan. 10 at 4 (JV) and 5:30 p.m., then will open conference play by hosting Cody Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the same times.