Young Lady Bulldog teams sweep three

The Lovell junior varsity and freshman girls basketball teams went 3-0 in games this week, continuing their strong seasons.

The JVs, coached by Jen Hessenthaler, took two on the road Friday and Saturday, stopping Lyman 62-46 Friday and crushing Mountain View Saturday, 40-17.

Friday in Lyman, the Lady Bulldogs doubled up the Eagles 20-10 in the first quarter and led 30-18 at halftime. Lovell outscored Lyman 32-28 in the second half.

Macie Anderson poured in 15 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs, and Kaydree Owens and Brynnlee Spanier added 12 points each, Jenna Hessenthaler and Morgan Harshman 8 apiece, Gracie Angell 3 and Kelsey Mangus and Myles May 2 apiece.

Saturday in Mountain View, the Bulldogs shut down the Lady Buffs defensively, holding the home team to single digits in all four quarters. Lovell led 9-2 after one and 25-10 at halftime, then outscored Mountain View 15-7 in a low-scoring second half.

Harshman scored 11 points, Spanier and Angell 7 each, Anderson 6, Owens 5 and Hessenthaler 4.

“It was a great weekend for the Lovell JV squad,” Coach Hessenthaler said. “Ava Edwards was out with an ankle injury, so the other girls had to step up and fill that void. We had a lot of girls score (in the Lyman game), and they were all attacking the hoop. It opened up perimeter shots, and the girls were able to knock down some threes. Morgan Harshman and Brynnlee Spanier fouled out, so we finished the game with only five players, but they did great.

“The game against Mountain View was one of the best games we’ve played defensively. We ran a new defense we’ve been working on in practice, and it was awesome. It’s a very high-pressure press, which caused Mountain View to have a lot of turnovers. We had a lot of steals and deflections. I was so excited about the level of effort and energy in the game. It was a very fast paced, physical game. Our girls came out with a lot of battle wounds but even bigger smiles. I’m very proud of this group.”

Freshman win

The Lovell freshman squad clobbered Cody 44-30 Monday evening in the team’s final game of the season in Cody. The Lady Bulldogs trailed 20-13 at halftime and 26-24 after three, then exploded in the fourth, outscoring the Fillies 20-4 to win by 14.

Anderson fired in 18 points and Harshman 17. May added 5 points, Kinzie Blain 3 and Spanier 1.

Coach Gretchen Walker was pleased with her team’s performance Monday.

“We beat them earlier in the season, but they were without two of their best players,” Walker said. “Tonight, they had their starters back, and it’s always been a competitive matchup between these two teams. Our girls started the game looking scared and reacting slowly on defense. At half we were trailing, but we came out of the half with a fire and didn’t look back.

“Defensively, they locked Cody down, which was a huge goal for us as a team. We combined for 18 steals as a team. Macie had a huge night for us making steals and converting them to layups. Both she and Gracie finished with six steals. Morgan was dominant under the hoop with 17 rebounds. The girls played through foul trouble, and our bench came in and did exactly what was needed when it was needed.

“Kinzie got us going with a huge three at the beginning of the game, and Kelsey brought a defensive energy and fight to the floor. Myles and Brynnlee both did great things on both the offensive and defensive side of the court. All around it was a huge team win and a great way to finish the freshmen season.”