Lovell Middle School lady cagers battle Cody and Powell at Friday quads

The Lovell eighth-grade Lady Bulldogs showed toughness as they competed against Cody Friday at a quad in Worland, falling 34-31 in the A game.

Coach Lance Anderson noted, “The girls showed what they are capable of during the second half. We went into halftime trailing 21-7. In the first half we had a hard time taking care of the ball and responding to Cody’s aggressive play. At halftime we made some adjustments, and the girls responded. We came out more aggressive and confident.

“I was really proud of them, and we hope to meet Cody again in the conference tournament.” 

Macie Anderson led the Lady Bulldogs with 9 points, and Morgan Harshman added 8 points, Gracie Angell 7 and Brynnlee Spanier 5.

Lovell won the B game 26-10 as Kendra Allen scored 13 points, Kelsey Mangus 7 points, Daisy Carpenter 4 and Kinzie Blain 2.

The A team worked hard against Powell at the same quad with a 37-23 win.

“Powell came out right away trying to press us, and the girls did a great job taking care of the ball,” Anderson said. “Myles May got us going right away with a couple quick buckets, and the rest of the team responded. It’s nice to see how they respond to different challenges. This last week in practice we worked a lot on handling pressure and playing with composure. They did really well in doing that. I was really proud of them.”

Anderson scored 15 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs, and Harshman added 9 points, Mangus and May 4 each, Angell and Spanier 3 apiece.

 The B team lost 28-26.

Seventh grade

The LMS seventh grade played a similar quad in Powell Friday.

The A team lost to Cody 25-15, while the B team came out on top 11-10. The A team fell to Powell 32-11, and the B team fell 35-10.

“The girls have continued to get more aggressive and did a great job on defense versus both Cody and Powell, where they had a 20-point swing from the first time to the second time we’ve played,” head coach Collin McArthur said. “We will continue to work on getting the girls to better read and react to the defense and hopefully see their shots start falling more.

“They are a great group of kids and do all they are asked. If they can finish out strong, we should go in as the third seed for conference, and that’s what we are shooting for in the coming weeks.”

The Lady Bulldogs will wrap up the regular season following the Thanksgiving holiday with games at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, against Worland, with the seventh grade in Worland and the eighth grade in Lovell.