10 i The Lovell Chronicle J March 10, 2011
www.LovellChronicle.com
Round one
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell Lady Bull-
dogs must be "morning peo-
ple" because they came out
strong and took apart the
Lingle-Ft. Laramie Lady
Doggers 70-26 in the first
round of the State Basket-
ball Tournament in the first
game of the day Thursday
morning at Casper College.
The 9 a.m. tip-off didn't
seem to bother the Lady
Bulldogs a bit as they
jumped out to a 13-0 lead
by forcing turnovers, shar-
ing the ball and taking the
ball strong to the basket.
"We talked about the
mindset going into an ear-
ly-morning game," coach
Chris Edwards said. "As
coaches we wanted to start
out with a full-court press
to get the level of the game
at a quicker pace. Some-
times that gets our legs go-
ing. We knew Lingle was a
team that, if you let them
hang around, can beat a
good team, which they did
against Pine Bluffs in their
regional."
Jodi Walker got the
Lovell juggernaut started
with an inside bucket, then
Karen Koritnik converted
a steal into 2 points. Erin
Robertson scored inside,
and Walker fed Leanne
Winterholler for a jumper
as Lovell led 8-0.
Alyssa Geiser hit Rob-
ertson on a fast break for A trey by Chelsey Ellis to
a three-point play, then start the fourth quarter kept
scored herself on a give-the momentum up for the
and-go from Amanda Shum- Lady Bulldogs, and they con-
way, putting Lovell up 13-0 tinued to work hard, outscor-
over the shell-shocked Dog- ing the Doggers 19-7 to win
gers, who finally scored 3½ going away, 70-26.
minutes into the game on a Lovell shot 48 percent
drive by quick guard Heath-
er Gibbs.
Lovell kept it up and
went on to lead 24-8 at the
quarter break.
Lovell forced nine turn-
overs in the first quarter and
nine more in the second, con-
tinuing to pull away with a
10-7 advantage to lead 34-
15 at intermission. Edwards
pulled the full-court pressure
midway through the quarter.
%Ve were able to pres-
sure their guards in the half
court," he said 'We didn't al-
low them to set up in their of-
fense."
Not choosing to go
through the motions, the
Lady Bulldogs came out of
the locker room in the third
quarter with fire in their
eyes and continued to play
aggressive ball, starting the
period with a 9-0 run to lead
43-15. Koritnik scored in
transition, converte l a steal
and took a pass from Geiser
on the fast break for a three-
point play. Geiser then com-
pleted the outburst with a
fast-break bucket.
Lovell went on to lead
51-19 after three.
in the game to 23 percent
for Lingle, and the Bulldogs
went to the foul line 23 times,
hitting 15. They took only six
three-pointers, hitting one.
Rebounding was near-
ly even at 36-35 in favor of
Lovell, and state stat keep-
ers recorded a stunning 37
turnovers for Lingle, 18 for
Lovell.
Koritnik recovered from
an early hustle injury (flying
out of bounds after a loose
ball) to score 18 points and
record four steals. Robert-
son added 13 points and five
rebounds, Walker 12 points
and six boards. Geiser fin-
ished with 8 points, five re-
bounds and three assists,
Shumway 6 points and four
boards.
"We received contribu-
tions from everybody," Ed-
wards said. "I thought Erin
and Jodi did a nice job look-
ing for their shots inside.
That gave us good balance.
It was good to see both of
our post players in double
figures."
The win propelled the
Lady Bulldogs (22-3) into
the state semifinals against
Tongue River, while Lingle-
Ft. Laramie (9-16) dropped
into the consolation brack-
et, where the Lady Doggers
fell to Wyoming Indian Fri-
day morning, 59-52.
The box score:
LINGLE (26)
Hannah Gibbs 1 2-4 5, Heather
Gibbs.1 0-1 2, Breann Garhart
01-2 1, Morgan Kappen 0 0-0
0, Kylah Meyer 4 1-2 9, Shaylee
Rickard 2 0-2 4, Courtney Rickard
2 0-0 5, Kay!ee Greenwald 0 0-1 0.
Totals 10 4-12 26.
LOVELL (70)
Alyssa Geiser 4 0-0 8, Jodi Walker
3 6-7 12, Leanne Winterholler 1 2-3
4, Karen Koritnik 8 2-3 18, Susie
Shumway 0 1-2 1, Chelsey Ellis 2
0-0 5, Amanda Shumway 3 0-0 6,
Erin Robertson 5 3-3 13, Miranda
Griffis 1 1-5 3, Kim Shumway 0 0-0
0. Totals 27 15-23 70.
Lingle 8 7 4 7 - 26
Lovell 24 10 17 19 - 70
Three-point field goals - Han. Gibbs
1, C. Rickard 1; Ellis 1. Fouled
out - none. Total fouls - Lingle 17,
Lovel116.
Right, Lovell senior
Karen Koritnik powers
to the basket against
Lingle-Ft. Laramie
during Lovell's 70-26
opening-round win
Thursday morning at
Casper College. Koritnik
scored 18 points in the
victory.
DAVID PECK PHOTO
nnln
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell Lady Bull-
dogs were crowned state
champions Saturday night
in Casper, but they almost
didn't make it out of the
second round, roaring from
behind to top the tradition-
rich Tongue River Lady Ea-
gles 46-42 before a throng
of unbelieving fans at the
Casper Events Center Fri-
day evening,
21': Rarely has a team
come back from the dead
the way the Lady Bulldogs
did. Lovell got down ear-
ly, 6-0, fought back to trail
13-12 after the first quar-
ter, trailed by six in the sec-
ond but then scored eight
straight on an Erin Robert-
son jumper, a Karen Korit-
nik three-pointer and a Le-
anne Winterholler trey to
lead 25-23 before a late TR
bucket tied the score 25-25
at halftime.
"They're a team that
is always well prepared
for the state tournament,"
coach Chris Edwards said
of the Eagles and their
four titles in the previous
six years. "Dianne Moser
has them prepared for each
team she faces.
"They play a tight 2-3
zone. They force you to be
patient and wait for you
to force a pass where it
shouldn't go. You have to
have good spacing in your
offense. If there's poor spac-
ing it's easier to defend a
team. We talked spacing in
our zone offense and get-
ting good ball reversal. We
did a good job of it for the
most part. We weren't forc-
ing shots when they weren't
there."
Things were looking
good, but then the Lady
DAVID PECK
Emotions ranging from shock and disbelief to relief and joy were evident on
the faces of the Lovell Lady Bulldogs following their dramatic come,from-
behind victory over Tongue River Friday evening at the Casper Events Center.
Pictured are (l-r) Alyssa Geiser, Chelsey Ellis, Leanne Winterholler and Amanda
Shumway.
Bulldogs played perhaps
their worst quarter of the
season - at least offensively
- and were outscored 13-1
in the third to trail 38-26.
It looked like the hopes of
a state title were over for a
team that had been ranked
number one all season.
The Lady Bulldogs had
shot the ball fairly well in
the first half, hitting at a
43.5 percent clip from the
field including five of nine
three-pointers, but the
team clearly was off its
game in the third. The Lady
Bulldogs were sluggish on
offense, sleepwalking their
way through the quarter
and failing to hit a basket
- and only one of four free
throws - as Tongue River
slowly took command of the
game.
Old team chemistry de-
mons that have plagued
the Lady Bulldogs off and
on this season also seemed
to raise their ugly heads
once again, and trailing by
12 points to the Eagles and
veteran coach Dianne Mo-
ser, the Bulldogs appeared
to be dead in the water.
"The second half is usu-
ally when we start to pull
away from teams," Ed-
wards said. "We were mak-
ing poor choices on where
the ball was being distrib-
uted. We started forcing the
ball when openings were
not there."
Inexplicably, it was
Tongue River that turned
tentative in the fourth
quarter as Lovell dug deep
and turned up the heat on
defense, forcing turnovers
and disrupting the TR of-
fense with a full-court
press. With her team trail-
ing 39-28, Winterholler
sparked the Lady Bulldogs
with a clutch trey, then
Amanda Shumway hit two
free throws and powered
home a follow shot. Then
Koritnik battled for the
ball as three Eagle players
collapsed on her. She held
on and found Winterholler
beyond the arc and the ju-
nior's trey was true. Sud-
denly, Lovell was back in it
trailing 39-38.
"The girls that were fo-
cusing on the game really
stepped up and contribut-
ed," Edwards said. "Leanne
and Amanda really sparked
US.
"We told the girls to full-
court man'emto create some
turnovers. We felt they were
kind of in a stall in the half
court trying to burn clock."
Following a time out, A1-
yssa Geiser picked an Eagle
clean and converted, putting
the Lady Bulldogs on top for
the first time since late in
the first half, 40-39.
"There are not too many
girls who can create that
kind of ball pressure at that
moment," Edwards said of
his junior point guard.
But the Lady Bulldogs
weren't finished. Miranda
Griffis hit a jumper in the
key in traffic and Shum-
way sprinted ahead on a
fast break, took a pretty
pass from Geiser and roared
to the basket. Lovell had a
16-0 run and a 44-39 lead
with under a minute to play.
Tongue River senior Kim
Caywood finally broke the
drought for the Lady Eagles,
draining a clutch trey, but
Geiser calmly sank two free
throws with 23 seconds left
and Caywood's final three-
pointer missed, preserving a
46-42 Lovell victory. Excited
teammates hugged as Lovell
fans cheered but also shook
their heads in disbelief.
"We were dead in the wa-
ter, and all of a sudden they
came out of their mental
struggles and decided they
didn't want to lose out in
another semifinal at State,"
Edwards said.
Lovell (23-3) was in the
championship game, and
when East three seed Burns
upset Big Horn 52-50 in the
other semifinal, the Lady
Bulldogs had their matchup.
The Lady Bulldogs shot
only 27 percent from the
field in the second half, 34.7
percent for the game, but
TR shot only 29 percent in
the second half, 31 percent
for the game. Lovell did con-
nect on seven of 18 three-
point attempts and forced
20 turhovers, picking up 13
steals in the process.
Winterholler finished
with 13 points to lead the
Lady Bulldogs, hitting four
of eight shots from three-
point land. She also had
four steals. Koritnik added
10 points and six rebounds,
Geiser 7 points and four
steals, Shumway 6 points
and six boards. Griffis and
Robertson scored 4 points
each, Jodi Walker 2.
Caywood finished with
a 14-point, nine-rebound
performance for the Eagles,
who came back to beat con-
ference rival Big Horn 49-
38 for third place.
The box score:
TONGUE RIVER (42)
Sarah Rawlings 0 1-2 1, Cierra
Cooley 1 1-2 3, Tiana Mitchell 2 0-1
5, Sarah Nielsen 3 1-2 7, JoRee
LaFrance 2 0-0 5, Kim Caywood 4
4-7 14, Tianne Main 1 0-0 2, Taylor
LaFrance 1 3-5 5. Totals 14 10-19
42.
LOVELL (46)
Alyssa Geiser 2 2-2 7, Jodi Walker
1 0-0 2, Leanne Winterholler 4 1-2
13, Karen Koritnik 4 0-1 10, Susie
Shumway 0 0-2 0, Chelsey Ellis 0
0-0 0, Amanda Shumway 2 2-2 6,
Erin Robertson 2 0-0 4, Miranda
Griffis 2 0-2 4. Totals 17 5-11 46.
T. River 13 12 12 5 - 42
Lovell 12 13 1 20 - 46
Three-point field goals - Caywood
2, Mitchell 1, J. LaFrance 1; Winter-
holler 4, Koritnik 2, Geiser 1. Fouled
out - Robertson. Total fouls - TR
14, Lovel115.
and got 13 rebounds."
Koritnik said experi-
ence and a will to win put
the Lady Bulldogs over the
top.
"We had a lot of experi-
ence and a good group of
athletic kids," she said. "We
really wanted it. It was a
passion. That was a lot of it.
"We really played well
continued from page 9
together. The games we
played the best were when •
we had a lot of assists, when
we shared the basketball."
Geiser agreed that ex-
perience played a major
role, adding, "We all played
really good and played to-
gether. We all really want-
ed to win."
The box score:
BURNS (56)
Alex Ward 9 8-8 31, Ashley Spatz 1
0-0 2, Bailey Ward 1 0-0 3, Becca
Miller 1 0-0 2, Michelle Bastian 6
2-2 15, Kaylee Taylor I 0-0 3. Totals
19 10-10 56.
LOVELL (60)
Alyssa Geiser 6 3-5 18, Jodi Walker
4 2-4 10, Leanne Winterholler 1 0-0
2, Karen Koritnik 3 5-8 11, Susie
Shumway 0 0-0 0, Chelsey Ellis 1
0-0 2, Amanda Shumway 1 2-2 4,
Erin Robertson 3 2-2 8, Miranda
Griffis 2 1-2 5, Kim Shumway 0 0-0
0. Totals 21 15-23 60.
Burns 15 18 8 15- 56
Lovell 25 10 13 12 -- 60
Three-point field goals -A. Ward 5,
B. Ward 1, Bastian 1, Taylor 1; Gei-
ser 3. Fouled out - B. Ward. Total
fouls - Burns 16, Lovel112.
What a great year!
I'm so proud of you,
Tyrel!
Love, Morn
Congratulations,
lared!
Now you're off to bigger
and better things/
Love,
• Morn & Dad
69a e, we so p oud of L/ou.
You're come so f.
Lotle,
& D.d
We are so proud of
you, Aaro., a.d all of
the Pulldogst
Love,
Mum Bad
