Lady Cats get big win at home over Ottawa

Louisburg sophomores Madilyn Melton (left) and Alyse Moore team up to trap an Ottawa player Friday during the Lady Cats’ 54-16 win over the Cyclones.

It had been a rough couple of
weeks for the Louisburg girls basketball team as the Lady Cats had lost five of
their last six games going into Friday’s homecoming game with Ottawa.

As it turned out, a home game was
just what the Lady Cats needed.

Louisburg jumped on Ottawa from
the start behind a strong defensive effort and rolled to a 54-16 win over the
Cyclones. The Lady Cats forced 34 Ottawa turnovers, several of which, turned
into easy baskets on the other end.

“Anytime you can hold a team to 16 points for the game, that is a good defensive effort,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “Sure we still had some breakdowns, but that is a good defensive effort.

“Ottawa has some young players
that are going to be around for the next 2-3 years and are going to be good
basketball players. It is part of their learning process now, kind of like some
of the stuff we have been through.”

The Lady Cats (7-8) also had one of their better games offensively as they shot 45 percent from the field and held Ottawa to just 16 percent from the field. Louisburg was also able to find success from the outside with six 3-pointers.

Louisburg made a statement early
as it outscored Ottawa 17-5 in the first quarter and never looked back.

“Defense is creating offense for us
and that was a big part of our success,” Lowry said. “We were also able to hit
some nice shots on the perimeter and I think we are getting more confidence
there. We did a lot of shooting in practice and I think our free throw shooting
improved as well.”

Sophomore Brooklyn Diederich had a
strong game offensively as she finished with a team-high 14 points, including a
pair of 3-pointers. Defensively, she was also all over the floor and led the
team with five deflections and three steals.

Senior Carson Buffington also
scored in double figures with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Sophomore Madilyn Melton also added 10 points and finished with five
deflections and two steals on defense.

Louisburg will try for some
revenge on Friday when it competes in its final road game of the season against
Spring Hill and the Lady Cats will have some extra practice time to get ready.
Earlier in the season, the Lady Cats watched Spring Hill comeback from an
18-point deficit to steal a win and Louisburg is hoping to do the same this
time around.

“It is an interesting time of the
season, but it gives us a chance to work on some fundamental stuff and then get
ready to play our last away game of the season against Spring Hill,” Lowry
said. “The girls like playing Spring Hill and they have a lot of friends on
that team and they are excited to play them, especially after giving up an
18-point lead.”

LOU               17           10           14           13 – 54

OTT               5             5             6             0 – 16

LOUISBURG: (7-8): Brooklyn
Diederich 5-7 2-2 14; Carson Buffington 4-8 2-3 12; Madilyn Melton 4-7 2-3 10;
Alyse Moore 3-5 0-0 6; Haley Cain 1-3 1-2 4; Kennia Hankinson 1-7 0-0 3; Megan
Foote 0-1 3-5 3; Jordan Mynsted 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 19-42 10-15 54. 3-point
field goals: 6, (Buffington 2, Diederich 2, Hankinson, Cain)