Lady Mustangs fall to Powell, top Thermop

The Lovell eighth-grade Lady Mustang A team split a pair of games this week, falling to Powell Monday at home and beating Thermopolis Tuesday, both contests at home. Similarly, the seventh-grade squad split with Powell and Thermop on the road.
Powell topped the Lady Bulldogs in Monday’s eighth-grade A game, 42-23.
“We talked about needing to play more physical basketball and to protect the key area aggressively,” coach Josey Allen said.  “I thought we did a great job of that for major stretches of the game, especially when Powell had to run their half-court offense.
“Our primary issues continue to be decision making and playing physical on offense.   We had a lot of turnovers and didn’t finish at the rim as well as we can yet.”
Caylee Herman led the Lady Mustangs with 9 points, and Ali Walker added 8 points, Avery Walker 4 and Ava Edwards 2.
Allen noted the back-to-back game with Thermopolis was a challenge, but the Lady Mustangs prevailed 32-23.
“We knew this game would be mentally and physically challenging playing a back-to-back game and having lost to Powell the previous afternoon,” Allen said.  “It showed up in the first half as we struggled to finish the good shots we earned.  We trailed Thermopolis by seven at one point in the third quarter.  Then something we have been working on started to show up.
“We’ve talked a lot about the mental game and turning your frustration into fight and effort when things aren’t going your way.  The girls fought back and dominated the final quarter to come away with a tough and well-earned win.”
Avery Walker scored 10 points for the Lady Mustangs, Ali Walker and Edwards 8 apiece, Addie Weber 4 and Herman 2.
The seventh-grade A and B teams also split with Powell and Thermopolis this week on the road. Though coach Collin McArthur didn’t have his scorebook available Wednesday morning, he did report that the A team fell to Powell by 19 and the B team by 10, while the A team beat Thermop by three points and the B team prevailed by four.
“Against Powell we came out with less aggression than they did, and I take the fall for that,” McArthur said. “I didn’t have them prepared well for the environment we would be in, and I should have done a practice with higher intensity on the Friday before. Overall, they gave a lot of effort but fell too far behind early on.
In Thermop, the girls came out much more aggressive and, although we fell behind early, they fought back and took a two-point lead going into halftime. We hit some crucial free throws at the end of the game to seal the deal and played our most well-rounded game of the season against a talented Thermop team.
“I was super pleased with the effort and discipline the girls had from A to B in actually running through our plays and finding their team for good shots. I hope to see them continue to improve and finesse the things we go over in practice as the season continues.”
The seventh-grade team will host Cody today (Thursday) while the eighth-grade squad travels to Cody. Games begin at 4:15 p.m.