Lady Bulldogs break out with 3-0 sweep of 4A teams

Talk about a strong season start. The Lovell Lady Bulldogs attended the Compete Casper Classic in Casper over the weekend and returned home with a 3-0 record, all against Class 4A opponents.

Lovell crushed Casper Kelly Walsh 59-35, obliterated Jackson 55-8 and beat Riverton in double overtime, 66-60.

Head coach Brian May said he was pleased with his team’s first-weekend performance.

“For the first weekend, it was just good to get our kids on  the floor and to really get some good varsity experience,” he said. “I think our kids handled it really well with our overall team effort and energy and focus. Our concentration was there, and they played fairly well for the first three games.

“I felt defensively we’re starting to do what we want to do as far as being intense and playing full-court type of defenses and rotating, so our girls are catching on to some of that full-court pressure. Offensively, it was just really good to see some perimeter shots fall. We did an excellent job attacking the basket, getting some second chance opportunities with offensive rebounds and things and going to the line. I think we struggled a little bit with some zone things when they went to zone defenses, but the girls were starting to figure that out.”

May said he was confident going into the tournament, based on Lovell’s three opponents and how they fared last year, but to beat Kelly Walsh by 24 points was eye-opening, as was holding Jackson to 8 points. He said he enjoyed getting to play the entire varsity roster in the first two games. On the other hand, he was glad to see his team play through a stressful double-overtime game against Riverton.

Lovell 59, Kelly Walsh 35

The first half with Casper Kelly Walsh Thursday evening was a close contest as Lovell trailed 13-11 after the first quarter and 25-23 at halftime. But the Lady Bulldogs came out of the halftime locker room on fire and outscored the Casper team 19-5 in the third quarter and 17-6 in the fourth as Kandace Asay pumped in 10 second-half points, Kaydree Owens 9 and Brooklin Clark 8.

“Defensively we did a much better job of not allowing dribble penetration and open shots,” May said. “We got some steals in our full-court stuff and some easy baskets, which helped. And then I think that some of our kids just started hitting some outside shots, which always helps  open things up offensively.

“Kaydree was excellent. I mean, she came in and just added some fire defensively, got some steals, just got on the floor, and then her ability to hit some open shots, get some layups in there and free throws.  And then Kandace comes in, too, and hit some nice open shots, and one three, so that really helped us a lot. Brooklin was excellent, too, both on the defensive and offensive end. It was good to be able to rotate girls in, and there was no drop-off in that game.”

Clark led a balanced offensive attack with 15 points, and Owens and Hannity Felkins added 11 each, Asay 10, Ali Walker 8, Jenna Hessenthaler 2 and Becca Nichols and Avery Walker 1 apiece. Felkins led the team with six rebounds, and Asay and Clark grabbed five each.

Lovell 55, Jackson 8

The first half against Jackson Friday was somewhat competitive, with Lovell leading 20-8 at halftime, but it was all Lovell in the second half as the Lady Bulldogs outscored Jackson 35-0. Ava Edwards sparked the team with 7 points in the third quarter, and Clark added 5. Morgan Harshman scored 6 in the second half.

“They came out in a zone and kind of slowed us down (in the first half),” May said. “We weren’t getting a lot of turnovers off of our press, and so we weren’t getting good looks offensively. I felt in the first quarter we had kind of slow start, and then we did start picking it up a little bit better in the second quarter, where we were figuring some things out against that zone.

“We had some open looks that we had hit. We did get a few off some turnovers and things, and then defensively our girls were just tenacious -- half court, full court -- just their relentlessness.”

Clark led the team with 13 points, and Ali Walker added 10, Edwards and Avery Walker 7 each, Harshman 6, Hessenthaler 5, Asay 4, Macie Anderson 2 and Felkins 1. Clark and Harshman snared six rebounds each, Felkins five. Ali Walker led with three assists.

Lovell 66, Riverton 60, 2 ot

The Lady Bulldogs played a barnburner with Riverton Saturday morning. A 16-7 second-quarter advantage put Lovell up 25-17 at halftime, but Riverton fought back in the third, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 20-12 to tie the score 37-37 after three.

“They came out in a 1-3-1 half-court trap. We weren’t getting the ball where it needed to be, and our scoring opportunities weren’t developing like we wanted them to,” May noted.

Each team scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime at 49-all.

Lovell trailed 47-44 late, but a three-pointer by Ali Walker in the corner knotted the score, and a steal and score by Ali put Lovell up 49-47 with 1:55 left. Riverton was able to tie the score and send the game into overtime. Each team scored 7 points in the first overtime, leaving the score knotted 56-all.

A jumper by Ali Walker put Lovell up 56-52, but Riverton scored the final 4 points of the period including two free throws with nine seconds left.

In the second overtime, Ali Walker drained a trey to put Lovell up 59-56, but Riverton hit two free throws and a bucket to lead 60-59. Lovell scored the final 7 points of the game, however, including a key put-back by Felkins to give Lovell the lead and five-of-six shooting at the foul line by Felkins and Avery Walker.

Ali Walker finished with a game-high 24 points, and sister Avery scored 13, Felkins 12, Clark 8, Nichols 6 and Asay 3.

“Ali Walker was outstanding,” May said. “She hit some big shots. There were also a couple of offensive possessions where we just were tenacious on the offensive rebounds. And I think on one possession, we probably had three or four offensive rebounds, and then Hannity puts it up over players that are bigger than she is. She’s tenacious.”

East-West Classic

The Lady Bulldogs will travel to Douglas this weekend for the East-West Classic and will meet Burns Friday at 6 p.m. (JVs at 4:30), second-ranked Douglas Saturday at 10:30 a.m. (JVs at 1:30 p.m.) and fourth-ranked Wheatland Saturday at 3 p.m.

“Douglas is always going to be solid,” May said. “They just don’t have a kid right now that’s going give them 30 like the Olson girl (Lauren). Wheatland has a guard, (Lily) Anderson, that can go off on you if you’re not careful. Last year, she averaged probably 25, 26 a game. Burns has a girl, Josie Barrett, that’s pretty solid.”