Lady Bulldogs sweep Lyman, Mountain View on the road

Lady Bulldogs sweep Lyman, Mountain View on the road

By David Peck

The long trip to Uinta County was a successful one for the Lovell Lady Bulldogs as they swept Lyman and Mountain View to pick up two important conference wins.

Lovell topped Lyman Friday, 41-33, and clobbered Mountain View Saturday, 45-28. The Lady Bulldogs occupy fifth place in the Class 3A West standings with a 4-5 record, 14-7 overall. They travel to Powell tonight (Thursday) for the final game of the regular season.

“Those were two good wins for our girls,” head coach Brian May said. “I thought they responded really well in both games as far as their effort, energy and playing hard. I thought we got after it pretty good defensively in both games. In the Lyman game, we allowed one of the girls who’s not their leading scorer (Addison Smith) to have a pretty decent game. I think she hit some threes and had an and-one, but I thought our girls, after a long bus trip, handled it well. We had some adversity in the game where we had some kids get into some foul trouble, and we had others step in and play well.”

Lyman

The Lady Bulldogs edged Lyman 10-8 in the first quarter Friday, then doubled up the Eagles 10-5 in the second to lead 20-13 at halftime. An 11-8 third-quarter advantage left the Bulldogs up 31-21 after three, and a 12-10 Lyman advantage in the fourth was too little, too late.

Though they only shot 28 percent from the field, May was pleased to see his team hit 9 of 12 shots from the free-throw line, a bugaboo for the team of late. The Bulldogs also forced 34 turnovers, with 17 steals, while having only 13 turnovers themselves.

“Lyman, they’re just scrappy,” May said. “They’re physical. They rebound well, and they box you out. So it was good for our girls to face some physicality and aggressiveness. We had quite a few girls that got in the game and provided us some scoring, rebounding and steals.”

Nine players scored for Lovell led by Brooklin Clark with 11 points. Avery Walker added 7, Morgan Harshman 6, Ali Walker 5, Kandace Asay and Hannity Felkins 3 each, Kaydree Owens, Becca Nichols and Jenna Hessenthaler 2 apiece. Clark snared six rebounds, Ali Walker five and Asay, Avery Walker and Felkins four each. Hessenthaler and Ali Walker tallied three assists each, and Clark led with five steals.

Mountain View

Saturday morning in Mountain View, the Lady Bulldogs pulled away from the Lady Buffalos after a close first quarter. Lovell led 15-13 after one, then outscored the home team 10-6 in the second quarter, 13-5 in the third and 7-4 in the fourth to win 45-28.

“We were trying some zone things early, and they hit some threes in the first quarter that kept them close,” May said. “We got after them full court after that, and we went away from zone defenses. I thought our girls adjusted well and really locked in defensively. You can see that with their scoring per quarter.”

The Bulldogs had a cold shooting night, hitting just 28 percent from the field including one of 15 from beyond the arc, but they hit 12 of 19 free throw attempts and forced 34 turnovers including 19 steals while turning the ball over just 13 times themselves.

“Mountain View is really physical, so that game was really physical -- lots of girls flying all over the floor -- and I thought our girls handled that really well,” May said.

The Lady Bulldogs had 10 players in the scoring column led by Ali Walker with 11 points and sister Avery with 10. Clark added 7, Nichols 6, Owens 3, Macie Anderson, Asay and Harshman 2 each, Hessenthaler and Felkins 1 apiece. Ali Walker and Harshman pulled down six rebounds each, Asay and Clark five apiece. Hessenthaler tallied three assists, and defensive stopper Avery Walker finished with four steals and four blocked shots.

At Powell

The Lady Bulldogs will close out the regular season at Powell tonight, with the junior varsity game at 4 p.m. and the varsity contest at 5:30. The Lady Bulldogs narrowly fell to Powell at home on January 29, 47-46.

May said the key to beating Powell is slowing down talented guards Emery Hernandez and Coy Erickson by not allowing easy penetration and wide-open shots from deep, making sure we’re rotating efficiently on defense and taking those things away.

“Offensively, I hope we’ll get some of their kids into some foul trouble, and, of course, it’s always important to be able to finish, hit shots and hit your free throws,” the coach said. “We’ll need to take care of the ball if they pressure us. I’d like to see our transition game get a little better.”

Class 3A West standings

Cody 19-0, 8-0

Lander 18-3, 8-1

Pinedale 16-4, 6-3

Powell 14-6, 5-3

Lovell 14-7, 4-5

Worland 8-13, 2-7

Lyman 9-8, 1-7

Mtn. View 4-15, 0-8