Lovell Chronicle March 7, 2013: Page 10

March 7, 2013 Lovell Chronicle
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10 J The Lovell Chronicle J March 7, 2013 BY DAVID PECK The Lovell Lady Bull- dogs showed the true mean- ing of the word "team" Thursday morning at Casper College, display- ing great scoring balance to blow past Sundance 56- 34 and earn a spot in .Fri- day night's semifinal round during the state basketball tournament. Seven Lovell, players scored 7 points or more. Emilee Reasch led the team with 9 points, and Chay- li McArthur, Kim Shum- way and Amanda Robertson scored 8 points each, Lauren Hinckley, Kassidy Hetland and Chelsey Ellis 7 apiece. Conversely, Sundance was one-dimensional as Ka- cie O'Connor scored 25 of her team's 34 points. "They just played a 2-3 zone, and we were able to patiently move the ball through their zone and when we were patient we were able to get some easy looks at the rim," Coach Chris Edwards said. "We took a few early threes, but overall I was pleased with how we moved the ball. ' We got the ball to the short corner and sometimes hit a cutter from high or re- versed the ball to the weak side and found easy jump shots." Lovell defensive pres- sure led to some early steals and conversions as Hinck- ley, Robertson and Shum- way scored to give Lovell a 6-2 lead. O'Connor knocked down a long three-point- er and Sundance soon tied the score 7-7. But a jump- er by Hetland off the bench sparked a 9-0 run to close the first quarter for Lovell, which also got a strong drive .... : ' BY DAVID PECK', ':" .... , Frigid, 'fro ty, " icy, chilly, just plain cold. What- ever adjective could be used to describe the shooting of the Lovell Lady Bulldogs Friday evening, the result was the same: a 43-38 loss to the Thermopolis Lady Bobcats in a state semifinal game at the Casper Events Center. The Lady Bulldogs shot a frosty 26.2 percent from the field Friday night, 14.3 percent - 3 of 21 - in the first half when the Bull- dogs fell behind. Only senior Amanda Robertson seemed to be on top of her game of- fensively, finishing with 24 points on 7 of 13 shooting, 9 of 10 at the free-throw line. The loss ended Lovell's state championship streak at two, and Thermop ad- vanced on to meet Tongue River for the title. "We came out and missed a few shots initial- ly, and I think that caused the girls to be a little bit tight and not shoot with confidence," Coach Chris Edwards said. "Thermop's defense really set the tone and made life tough on our guards and dictated the pace of the game. At times we didn't advance the ball quick enough and allowed ourselves to get trapped and in some difficult positions." The first quarter was sloppy as Lovell turned the ball over eight times, Ther- mop five. The Lady Bulldogs had difficulty executing and got no baskets out of their offense, only a put-back on her own miss by Robertson. Other than that all the Lady Bulldogs could do was hit three of six shots at the line. Thermopolis, mean- while, wasn't exactly blaz- ing but turned a three-point lead into a nine-point ad- vantage as the Lady Cats converted steals into points for their final three baskets of the first quarter. Ther- mop led 14-5 after one. "They were able to con- vert turnovers into points and we weren't," Edwards said. "They were playing a tough man defense and hounding our guards." The two teams traded baskets in the second quar- ter, but the Lady Bulldogs DAvm PECK Lady Bulldog senior Amanda Robertson slashes down the baseline during Thursday's early-morning win over Sundance at Casper College. by Robertson, a trey by Het- land and a steal and buck- et by Chayli McArthur. Lovell led 16-7 after the first quarter. O'Connor tried to will her team back and scored 9 points during an 11-3 burst that pulled the team in red within one point, 19-18. Again, however, the Lady Bulldogs finished the quar- ter strong, going on a 12-3 run to lead 31-21 at inter- mission. Shumway started the run with an old-fash- ioned three-point play, Re- asch scored inside on an assist from Robertson, Rob- ertson converted a steal, Re- asch hit one of two at the line, Hetland converted a Reasch steal and Reasch fin- ished the half with a pretty spin move inside. Edwards said O'Connor was a challenge, but his team responded well. "At first we tried to play her straight up, but she hit some tough shots so we went to a box and one on her and made her work for every shot," Edwards said. "That frustrated her. Chay- li played tough on her and worked extra hard chasing her and making sure she didn't have any easy looks. Chelsey and Lauren also rotate on her at times. She only had 7 points in the sec- ond half." The third quarter was all Lovell as the Lady Bull- dogs outscored Sundance 17-7 to lead 48-28 after three. Hinckley sparked the Bulldogs with a trey and a transition jumper. Lovell outscored Sun- dance 8-6 in the fourth to win by 22 points. After a hot first half where they shot 52 percent from the field the Lady Bull- dogs cooled off in the sec- ond but still shot 43 percent, though they were only three of 16 from beyond the arc. Lovell scored 25 points off 21 Sundance turnovers, and the Lovell bench outscored the Sundance reserves 17-4. The box score: SUNDANCE (34) Brooklyn Fossen 0 0-0 0, Cayla Adams 1 0-1 2, Mandee Stutzman 0 0-0 0, Ester Schuh 2 0-0 4, Krista Drentlaw 1 0-0 2, Kacie O'Connor 9 3-4 25, Kelsie Loken 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 4-7 34. LOVELL (56) Shyann Wilske 0 0-0 0, Mykelle Nichols 0 0-0 0, Kassi Renner 0 0-0 0, Lauren Hinckley 3 0-0 7, Chayli McArthur 4 0-1 8, Dominique AIIred 1 0-0 2, Kassidy Hetland 3 0-0 7, Kim Shumway 3 2-3 8, Amanda Robertson 4 0-0 8, Chelsey Ellis 1 4-8 7, Emilee Reasch 4 1-2 9, Savanna Savage 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 7-14 56. Sundance 7 14 7 6- 34 Lovell 16 15 17 8-56 Three-point field goals - O'Connor 4; Hinckley 1, Hetland 1, Ellis 1. Fouled out - none. Total fouls - Sundance 10, Lovell 6. ermo DAVID PECK Lovell senior Kassidy Hetland drives against Thermopolis point guard Jordan Leyba during Friday night's semifinal game at the Events Center. still couldn't score in their offense, getting two put- backs from Robertson and five free throws in the quar- ter. Thermop led 24-14 at half time. Lovell came out strong in the third quarter and closed the deficit to three points, 28-25, midway through the period, but then inexplica- bly hit another drought, fail- ing to score the rest of the quarter as Thermop edged back to a seven-point lead at the quarter bre.ak, 32-25. Center Emilee Reasch hurt her ankle early in the fourth period and had to sit down, but the Lady Bull- dogs cut the Lady Cat lead to four points, 34-30, thanks to a Chelsey Ellis three- pointer and a follow shot by Robertson. Thermop then took the air out of the ball as two minutes came offthe clock. "I think we needed to put more pressure on the ball and challenge them, but we didn't do a good job of that," Edwards noted. "Thermop took care of the ball well." Lovell had a chance to cut the lead to two points, but Ellis missed two free throws with 3:15 left to play. Robertson hit one of two about a half minute lat- er to make the score 34-31. In the final two minutes Thermopolis hit 9 of 13 foul shots while Lovell turned the ball over four times and got two free throws and a put-back from Robertson, plus a trey from Lauren Hinckley. "They made a few more plays, and that's what hap- pens when you have two evenly matched teams," Ed- wards said. Robertson finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and three steals, Hinckley and Reasch 5 points each. Reasch grabbed six re- bounds, Kim Shumway five. Reasch had three blocked shots. The box score: THERMOP (43) Bailey Fisher 1 0-0 2, Sierra Schmidt 3 3-5 10, Hayli~e Hoffman 1 0-0 2, Jordan Leyba 3 2-6 8, Dana Bjorhus 3 9-9 16, Christina Porath 0 0-0 0, Desi Rangel 0 3-4 3, Katie Olsen 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 17-24 43. LOVELL (38) Lauren Hinckley 2 0-0 5, Chayli McArthur 0 1-3 1, Dominique AIIred 0 0-0 0, Kassidy Hetland 0 0-0 0, Kim Shumway 0 0-0 0, Amanda Robertson 7 9-10 24, Chelsey Ellis 1 0-4 3, Emilee Reasch 1 3-4 5. Totals 11 13-21 38. Thermop 14 10 8 11-43 Lovell 5 9 11 13 - 38 Three-point field goals - Schmidt 1, Bjorhus 1; Hinckley 1, Robert- son 1, Ellis 1. Fouled out - Fisher; McArthur, Hetland, Shumway. Total fouls - Thermop 18, Lovell 21. David Peck Lovell point guard Lauren Hinckley fires up a three-pointer against Southeast in Saturday morning's third-place game. Free throws do n Lady Bulldogs ,n finali game BY DAVID PECK It wasn't the kind of ending the Lovell Lady Bulldogs are used to at the state basketball tournament. After two straight state titles, the Lovell outscored Southeast 15-9 over the final four minutes of the game, getting as close as five points on a long three-pointer by Hinck- ley with 24 seconds left, Lady Bulldogs finishedbut Southeast finished the 2012-13 season with (iffithe ga e six- back-to-back losses, fall- point ...... .... ing to Southeast in the Am l dVaRobertsOn l .... third-place game at Casper Kelly Walsh Sat- urdayI morning, 57-51. In a whistle-filled game that became a free- throw-shooting contest, the Cyclones from Yoder sizzled at the line, hitting 26 of 32 foul shots includ- ing 22 straight in the sec- ond half over a 14-minute span. "We battled hard," Coach Chris Edwards said. "Certain girls worked extremely hard. It came down to free throws, and as a team they shot 46 percent dur- ing the year, but in this game you wouldn't think that." For their part, the Lady Bulldogs got to the foul line 36 times, but they hit only 22, and the 14 misses made the dif- ference in a six-point loss. Southeast led 15-11 after the first quarter and 17-11 early in the second, but two free throws each by Kim Shumway and Amanda Robertson fol- lowed by a three-pointer by Lauren Hinckley put the Lady Bulldogs on top 18-17. An inside move by Dani McManamen gave the Cyclones the lead back 19-18, but Shum- way and Hinckley led an 8-0 spurt for the Lady Bulldogs, who took their biggest lead of the game, 26-19. Southeast cut the lead to four points at halftime, 26-22, then outscored Lovell .12-2 to start the third quar- ter to lead 34-28, hitting eight of eight free throws in the process. A pow- er move and free throw by Robertson and one of two at the line by Chayli McArthur kept the Lady Bulldogs close trailing 34-32, but they never led again. The Cyclones led 36- 32 at the end of the third quarter then used a 10-3 run early in the fourth - hitting six of six free throws - to lead 48-36. closed out her career with 18 points and eight rebounds, and sister Kim Shumway added 14 points. Hinckley added 9 points, Chelsey Ellis 7. "Kim and Amanda battled and gave it all they had," Edwards said. "For the most part the girls fought hard. Kim re- ally battled inside, and Amanda did a good job at- tacking hard." The game was the fi- nal contest for seniors Robertson, Ellis, Dom- inique Allred, Kassidy Hetland and Shyann Wil- ske. Lovell finished the season 18-8 and the Lady Bulldogs were ranked second behind eventual champion Tongue River for most of the season. Asked if there was pressure on his girls to three-peat, Edwards said, "They obviously wanted to continue the success the program has had and continue to compete at a high level, but there were five or six quality ball clubs and Tongue River with their phenomenal year (28-0). "Our girls did a good job stepping up and im- proving from the first weekend to the state tournament." The box score: SOUTHEAST (57) Andrea Gurney 1 1-4 3, Hallie Burkart 5 3-4 13, Shelby Bur- roughs 4 9-9 18, Madison Pragnell 1 1-2 3, Laurel Luke 0 2-2 2, Hailie Pragnell 3 2-2 8, Dani McManamen 1 8-9 10, Hannah Grosz 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 26-32 57. LOVELL (51 ) Shyann Wilske 0 0-0 0, Kassi Renner 0 0-0 0, Lauren Hinckley 3 0-0 9, Chayli McArthur 0 1-2 1, Dominique Allred 0 0-0 0, Kassidy Hetland 0 0-1 0, Kim Shumway 2 10-13 14, Amanda Robertson 5 8-16 18, Chelsey El- lis 2 3-4 7, Emilee Reasch 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 22-36 51. Southeast 15 7 14 21 - 57 Lovell 11 15 6 19- 51 Three-point field goals - Bur- roughs 1 ; Hinckley 3. Fouled out - H. Pragnell; Ellis, Reasch. Total fouls - Southeast 25, Lovell 23.