Lady Bulldogs begin conference with victory

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs survived a nail-biter 44-38 win on Friday night in Johnny Winterholler Gymnasium over the Worland Lady Warriors to start off 1-0 in conference play.
“Although it wasn’t the prettiest basketball game, I’m happy we were able to pull off the win and managed to be the team with the least number of turnovers,” Lovell head coach Chris Edwards said.
Worland struck first to go up 2-0, but Lovell quickly answered back with a steal by Libby Mickelson, who dished it off to Kenadee Rael in transition for a layup the other way.
The Lady Warriors again scored on back-to-back possessions to regain the lead at 6-2.
“The girls seemed to have some nerves in the beginning that caused us to come out tight,” Edwards continued in regard to this being their first home game of the season until now and their first conference game to boot.
After a few empty opportunities, the Lady Bulldogs got a quick dose of momentum when Rael connected with Mickelson slashing across the lane, making the bucket and drawing the foul for an old-fashioned three-point play.
Heading into the second quarter down 6-5, the Lady Bulldogs recapture the lead early on free throws by Rael and Raegan May.
The rest of the quarter lacked high quality production offensively from either squad, but another “and-one” by Mickelson and a steal that resulted in a layup from Becca Nichols left the Lady Bulldogs trailing Worland 14-13 at halftime.
“Our defensive energy kept us close in the first half,” Edwards said. “They broke our press a few times for easy looks, but overall we were getting good pressure and caused several turnovers.”
The teams traded buckets to start the third quarter. Breeah Jones drove down the middle of Worland’s 2-3 zone for the Lady Bulldogs, then got a steal on the other end that led to another transition bucket by Rael.
Jones kept the momentum by draining a three-pointer on the next possession to put the Lady Bulldogs up 20-16 before Worland finally responded with a mid-range jumper.
Kennadee Owens helped the cause by scoring off a Mickelson pass down low, and Rael put in another two points on a hard backdoor cut.
A deep three from Worland stopped the bleeding for the Lady Warriors, but Mickelson again connected with Rael for a bucket and a foul by Worland. Although Rael missed the extra point, Mickelson snagged the rebound and got the put-back for two more points.
Lovell was on top 28-27 heading into the fourth quarter, but Worland immediately scored out of the gate to go up 29-28.
Summer Teter snagged an offensive rebound and scored for another lead change at 30-29 before Jones was able to hit another one from behind the arc to extend the cushion to 33-29.
After a Worland turnover, Rael hit Mickelson on the backside for two more points and appeared to be cruising when Jones hit her third triple of the night and May banked one in from downtown, resulting in a 12-point difference in favor of Lovell.
Worland fought to hold on with some free throws and pressure, but Lovell held on at 44-38 when the final buzzer sounded.
“We have to protect our home court during conference play, and I’m happy we were able to do that,” Edwards said. “We need to continue working on minimizing turnovers and valuing the ball to get high-quality shots every possession, and we can’t keep handcuffing ourselves with multiple empty looks each quarter.”
Rael ended the game with 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and six steals to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
Both Jones and Mickelson had 11 points. Mickelson also nabbed eight rebounds and had four assists, eight steals and a blocked shot.
May scored 4 and grabbed seven rebounds, while Nichols, Owens and Teter ended with 2 points apiece.
Looking ahead
The Lady Bulldogs will focus on ball security and better decision making under pressure this week as they prepare to face Powell at home on Thursday night and travel to Thermopolis on Friday. With both games being key conference matches, the Lady Bulldogs will also be emphasizing their importance when it comes time for seeding at the regional tournament.
“Powell has proven to be one of the top 3A West teams with their length and athleticism,” Edwards said. “They score a lot of points in transition and are hard to match up against with their size and physicality, so we will have to earn every bucket.
“Thermopolis likes to play at a frantic pace, so we need to remain composed and limit their main players from scoring in double digits.”
The Lady Bulldogs will tip-off against Powell on Thursday night in Lovell after the conclusion of the junior varsity game at 5:30 p.m. and again on Friday in Thermopolis at the same time.
JV girls
The Lovell Lady Bulldogs junior varsity squad handily defeated the Worland Lady Warriors on Friday afternoon, 46-28.
Celeste Lindsay topped all scorers with 13 points. Kindle Collins finished with 10, Brooklin Clark 7 and Nichols 4.
Both Kaydree Owens and Hannity Felkins had 3 points in the game while CeCe Collins, Jenna Hessenthaler and Kandace Asay had 2 each.
The JV girls play at 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon against Powell in Johnny Winterholler Gym and head to Thermopolis on Friday to again tip-off at 4 p.m.