Lady Bulldogs win two of three in Douglas

Although they didn’t remain undefeated, the Lovell Lady Bulldogs showed they will be a force to be reckoned with the Class 3A ranks as they won two of three games at the Douglas Classic over the weekend.

Lovell stopped Burns 53-32 Friday, fell to fourth-ranked Douglas Saturday, 36-33, and beat third-ranked Wheatland, 54-50. Coach Brian May had to miss Friday’s game while attending his son, Colin’s, graduation from the Wyoming Highway Patrol Academy, but he was on the bench for both games Saturday.

“It was really, really positive,” May said of his team’s weekend. “Just a big shout-out first to my coaches (Jen Hessenthaler and Gretchen Walker) for taking over in my absence at practice Thursday night, then getting the kids down there and coaching them against Burns.

“I was really proud of our girls, especially against Douglas and Wheatland, being down at the half and their response coming out of halftime. They responded and came out with a good push in the second half, just their positivity and winning attitude and never getting down and really having a coachable spirit and a desire to play hard and give lots of effort.”

May said the Lady Bulldogs competed well in some difficult and challenging circumstances.

“There were some pressure situations, and I thought they handled pressure well,” he said. “There were times when we would go on a spurt and times when the other team would go on a spurt, and we just maintained our composure and competitive edge, just kept with it and gave ourselves a chance to win each game.”

Lovell 53, Burns 32

The Lady Bulldogs had little trouble with Burns Friday evening. Lovell led 14-8 after one quarter and 28-12 at halftime and cruised from there.

“They’re an improved team,” May said. “Their physicality in the paint hurt us at times, but I think our defensive effort was tenacious. I thought we played our full-court man defense really well, pressured their guards and got a lot of steals. I think Becca (Nichols) had a number of steals and finished at the other end. And not only our starters played well, but the kids that came off the bench gave us a spark.”

Eight players scored for the Lady Bulldogs led by Nichols with 13. Kaydree Owens scored 9, Hannity Felkins 8, Kandace Asay 7, Brooklin Clark 6, Ali Walker 5 and Jenna Hessenthaler and Avery Walker 3 each.

“When you have that many kids scoring, it speaks to ball movement, sharing the basketball and passing it to open people,” May noted.

Douglas 36, Lovell 33

Playing on their home court, the Douglas Bearcats got all they wanted from a determined Lovell squad in a defensive battle. Lovell trailed by just one point, 12-11, after the first quarter, but an 11-4 edge in the second quarter put Douglas up 23-15 at halftime.

“We really struggled in that second quarter,” May said. “They came out in a zone, and that’s something we’ve got to improve on – our zone offense. That being said, I thought we had some open looks that we normally hit and just missed them.

“I don’t think we were getting enough offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities.”

Lovell played a better second half and cut into the Douglas lead. The Lady Bulldogs won the third quarter 6-2 to cut the deficit to four, 25-21, then took the lead late in the game before falling by three.

“We outscored them 18-12 in the second half,” May said. “We went to a 2-3 zone, and they struggled to score against it and hit open shots. I thought our girls rotated in that zone really well. There weren’t a lot of easy shots, and we blocked out fairly well in it, too. We took the lead and had some really nice looks that just didn’t drop.”

May said Douglas defends out-of-bounds throw-in plays, and he had to call time out twice to set up what was an open look from beyond the arc that could have tied the game in the final moments.

“We missed it, but we had that opportunity, which was good,” he said. “We had some foul trouble in that game. Clark was in foul trouble, and when she goes out her rebounding, offensively and defensively, and her overall energy isn’t there for us.

“It was a great learning experience knowing that they were on their home court and we had a chance to win it.”

Lovell 54, Wheatland 50

The Lady Bulldogs battled from behind to beat third-ranked Wheatland. Both teams lit it up in the first quarter and went to the break tied 18-18, but Wheatland won the second quarter 9-4 to lead 27-22 at halftime.

“We really struggled defensively, staying in front of their point guard, that Anderson girl (Lily), and we were getting in foul trouble, especially in that second quarter,” May said. “We were rotating different kids in, and they did a good job. Our offense just kind of got stale, and we weren’t getting the looks that we wanted. I think our transition defense hurt us at times in that second quarter.”

May said he listened to his assistant coaches at halftime, who advised going with a matchup zone with one player staying glued to Anderson. The Wheatland star had 8 points in the first half and just four free throws in the second, and May gave credit to Avery and Ali Walker, as well as Nichols.

Lovell blew Wheatland out 21-7 in the third to lead 43-34 as Owens, Hessenthaler, Ali Walker and Felkins drained three-pointers. Wheatland won the fourth 16-11, hitting four treys in the quarter, and even tied the game late before Lovell pulled out the win.

“I was really proud of our girls,” May said. “Wheatland tied it up, but they maintained their composure. Avery hit a big three, and Clark scored 6 points in that quarter. We played in that zone really well. They were trying to go inside to their post, but every time the post got it, we had two girls on her and she couldn’t throw it out and we either tied it up or got a turnover. … Our girls responded, that was the biggest thing, and they got stops at the other end.

“We need to get better at late-game situations when we have the lead.”

Felkins led a balanced attack with 13 points, and Clark added 12, Avery Walker 11, Owens 10, Nichols 4, Hessenthaler and Ali Walker 3 apiece, Asay 2.

JVs

The Lovell junior varsity team went 2-0 in Douglas, beating Burns 60-19 and Douglas 64-41.

Lovell led Burns 12-8 after the first quarter, then blasted the Broncs 20-0 in the second to lead 32-8 at halftime. Lovell won the second half 28-11. Ava Edwards scored 13 points for Lovell, Morgan Harshman 12, Myles May 11, Owens 6, Brynnlee Spanier 5, Asay 4, Gracie Angell 3 and Macie Anderson and Hessenthaler 2 apiece.

Douglas led Lovell 12-9 after the first quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs won the second quarter 18-8 and the third 24-9 to pull away. Edwards led the Lady Bulldogs with 18 points, and Anderson added 12, Angell 9, Asay 8, Harshman and Hessenthaler 6 each, Owens 3 and Spanier 2.

Holiday schedule

Now 5-1, the Lady Bulldogs will hold shoot-arounds Monday and Tuesday, then will be off for Christmas until Monday, Dec. 29, when they will resume regular practice.

Lovell will open post-holiday play on Friday, Jan. 9, at Rocky Mountain, then will travel to top-ranked Cody to open conference play on Tuesday, Jan. 13.