Lady Bulldogs win three of four at Big Horn Basin Classic

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs put together a strong weekend of basketball as they won three of four games at the Big Horn Basin Classic in Worland to place second.

Lovell swept Greybull and host Worland Friday, stopped Burlington to win the Worland pool Saturday, then ran out of steam and fell to Powell in the championship game.

Coach Brian May said he was pleased with his team’s defensive pressure during the tournament.

“We’re really learning how to guard individually and as a team,” May said. “We’re playing full-court man-to-man, and most of our half-court defense has been man-to-man with little dabs of zone. We have a full-court zone press we’ve gone to, and that helps us.

“Our rebounding is a big strength. We out-rebounded every team we played this weekend, including Powell.”

Not everything is roses, May said.

“On the downside, we’re not finishing underneath,” he said. “We’ve got to be better at finishing around the rim. We’re getting plenty of shots and looks at the basket. We had some real good glimpses of our offense working better – cutting, posting up and reading the defense.”

Greybull

The Lady Bulldogs powered past Class 2A Greybull 47-26. Lovell led 20-13 at halftime, then put the game out of reach by outscoring the Lady Buffs 19-9 in the third quarter. Lovell also won the fourth 8-4.

“Greybull is a pretty scrappy group,” May said. “They’re young, and I feel our defensive pressure got to them, wore them down. We were able to get in some offensive spurts and get several baskets in a row to gain momentum.”

May noted that Greybull star Perla Rodriguez scored 10 points in the first half but just 2 in the second.

“We tried to do a better job fronting her and running guards at her when she put the ball on the floor and box her out,” he said.

Senior Kennadee Owens led a balanced attack with 10 points, adding seven rebounds and five steals to her stat column. Libby Mickelson added 8 points, Brooklin Clark 7, Celeste Lindsay 6, Breeah Jones 5 points and four rebounds, Kenadee Rael 4 points and seven steals, Becca Nichols 4 points and five steals, Jenna Hessenthaler 3 points.

Glenrock

Lovell pounded Glenrock 44-26 to complete pool play Friday, leading 23-18 at halftime and taking charge by outscoring the Herders 13-3 in the third to lead 36-21. An 8-5 edge in the fourth quarter boosted the final margin to 18 points.

Owens put together a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Rael added 9 points, four assists and four steals, Jones 7 points, Raegan May 6, Lindsay 5 points and 15 rebounds, Mickelson 4 points, Nichols 3.

“They have girls with good size and guards who can shoot it well, but we picked them up full court and applied pressure for most of the game,” May said. “We talked at halftime about what we wanted offensively and also defensively and were helping out in the post and running our offense. It did help that we got some steals and transition baskets, too.”

Burlington

Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs knocked off Burlington 54-31 in the Worland pool championship game. After a 7-7 first quarter, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Huskies 36-15 over the next two quarters to pull away.

“We went to more of an open offense,” May said. “We played five out, which allowed us to get easy buckets off cuts and post-ups. We really moved the ball and scored transition baskets we were able to get off steals.”

Ten players scored for Lovell: Mickelson with 12 points, Rael 11, Owens, Lindsay and Clark 6 each, Nichols 4, Ali Walker 3 and Hessenthaler, Jones and May 2 apiece. Mickelson, Owens, Lindsay and Clark grabbed five rebounds each, and Jones had four steals.

Powell

Powell got off to a strong start in the championship game, leading 15-6 after the first quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Panthers 13-10 in the second quarter and 9-7 in the third to trail 32-28 after three.

“We were down 30-28 near the end of the third and gave up an offensive rebound and put-back,” May said. “Then they had a nice fourth quarter.”

Powell outscored Lovell 18-8 in the fourth quarter to win by 14 points, 50-36.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” May said. “We took a time out in the first quarter and talked about our goal – did we want to fight back or give up now. We fought back and kept battling. Our defense was solid even if at times our offense struggled.

“I’m not sure if we were fatigued in the fourth quarter, but our defense wasn’t as intense, and we weren’t rotating and boxing out.”

Jones led Lovell with 11 points, and Owens added 10, Rael 8, Mickelson 3 and Nichols and Clark 2 apiece. Mickelson snared six rebounds, Nichols, Jones and Owens five each. The Lady Bulldogs were without sophomore center Celeste Lindsay, who was injured in the Burlington game.

Up next

The Lady Bulldogs will head south this afternoon (Thursday) for their second conference game of the season, meeting Worland in Worland at 4 (JV) and 5:30 p.m.

“It was really good to be successful and gain some confidence going into our conference game Thursday,” May said. “They’re tough. Their athletic posts are solid. We’ll definitely have our work cut out for us. They have a good coach who keep them in the game.”

May noted that the Lovell sophomores will play the Burlington varsity in Burlington Friday.