Lady Bulldogs finish strong in Douglas at East-West Classic

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs overcame a rough start at the East-West Classic in Douglas to finish with a 2-1 record on the weekend.
On Friday night, Douglas proved their program’s consistent dominance in 3A with a commanding 64-21 victory over the Lady Bulldogs.
The Lady Bearcats have won five straight 3A state championships and took down Lovell with their aggressive game play.
“Douglas is a team that can impose their will on their opponents,” Lovell head coach Chris Edwards said. “We were hoping to handle their pressure better, but it didn’t happen.”
The Lady Bulldogs look to mirror the defensive intensity level of Douglas moving forward and implement that aggressive style of play.
Kennadee Owens had 6 points and seven rebounds in the game, while Summer Teter finished just behind her with 4 points. Breeah Jones ended the game with 3 points, and Raegan May, Kenadee Rael, Becca Nichols and Libby Mickelson had 2 apiece.
The girls bounced back on Saturday morning, defeating Pine Bluffs 61-53 despite going into the locker room at halftime down 30-22.
“They are a very talented 2A opponent and have two post players that were hard to match up with down low,” Coach Edwards said of Pine Bluffs. “Unfortunately, we had some self-inflicted mistakes with poor ball movement and lack of discipline offensively that led to a big first half deficit.”
After applying some better full-court pressure that rattled Pine Bluffs, the Lady Bulldogs were able to force several turnovers that led to higher percentage shots and allowed them to take the lead.
Lovell shot an impressive total of 41 free throws in the match, knocking down 26 points from the charity stripe.
As an indicator of good ball movement, the Lady Bulldogs had four girls that scored in double figures. Leading the way with a double-double performance was Jones with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Owens came off the bench to put in 15 points and grab six rebounds of her own.
Scoring 11 points was May, while Mickelson scored 10 and both Teter and Rael finished with 6 points each.
Next up, the Lady Bulldogs of Lovell faced off against another strong 3A East opponent in the Lady Bulldogs of Wheatland.
Wheatland was able to break down Lovell’s defense early on behind the play of a strong freshman point guard that found ways to penetrate to the rim.
“After the first quarter, we adjusted to a 1-3-1 zone defense that slowed Wheatland down and forced them to take uncomfortable shots,” Edwards said.
Mickelson and Jones racked up their second double-double performances of the season. Mickelson had the hot hand to finish with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Jones was right behind her with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Owens ended the game with 7 points, May 6 and Keyanna Walker and Teter 2 each.
Edwards was happy overall with the team’s performance and said they will continue focusing on taking care of the ball and having higher levels of intensity.
“We dug ourselves into holes early in games, but I was proud of how we fought back in the second halves,” he said. “As coaches, we are prioritizing starting games stronger to dictate the flow of play instead of allowing other teams to determine that.”
JV games
The Lovell Lady Bulldog junior varsity squad played two quarters against Douglas on Friday and another two quarters against Wheatland on Saturday. They were scheduled to play another set of quarters against Pine Bluffs on Saturday afternoon, but that match-up was cancelled.
The Lady Bulldogs dropped the pair of games, losing to Douglas 21-6 and Wheatland 32-11.
Cece Collins scored 6 points total on the weekend. Lauryn Marchant ended with 5, Nichols 4 and Angela Lopez 2.