Eighth-grade girls basketball off to good start

By Andy Brown
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Updated: December 4, 2015

LMS eighth-grader Lauren Vincent looks to put up a shot Tuesday during the Lady Cats’ home contest against Ottawa. Louisburg downed Ottawa 38-14 and moved its record to 8-3 after the win.

It has been a successful season so far for the Louisburg Middle School eighth-grade girls basketball team.

Louisburg won its first four games to start the season, and after losing back-to-back games, the Lady Cats have won four out of their next five contests to have an 8-3 record on the year.

“Both the varsity and junior varsity players have improved their play since the beginning of the season,” Louisburg coach John Ozier said. “From day one, all of the girls have given great effort and have played aggressively. We are now attempting to play smarter, knowing when to attack the basket, or make the proper pass on offense and how to defend as one unit on defense.

“Coach (Cindy) Apple and I like to challenge the girls to get better in specific areas after each practice or game. The last portion of our schedule is going to be against some of the tougher teams in the league this year. This will be a real test of how well we can bring together what we have worked so hard on this season.”

Most recently, Louisburg took care of business Tuesday as it picked apart Ottawa in a 38-14 home victory. The Lady Cats’ defense made it difficult on Ottawa as they held the Whirlwinds scoreless in the second quarter and took a 15-4 lead at halftime.

Louisburg’s offense came alive in the second half and outscored Ottawa 10-1 in the final quarter to put the game away.

The Lady Cats got a big game from Haley Cain as she outscored Ottawa by herself with a game-high 16 points. Emma Roy and Kody Lowry were next on the team with five points each.

Before the Thanksgiving break, Louisburg also got a win on the road when it traveled to Wheatridge Middle School in Gardner. The Lady Cats pulled out a 27-21 victory behind a team-high eight points from Gabby Tappan. Lauren Vincent and Sydni Keagle also had five points to lead Louisburg.

Kody Lowry goes up for a layup during Tuesday’s contest against Ottawa.

On Nov. 21, the Lady Cats traveled to Paola to compete in a triangular with Trail Ridge and the Lady Cats split the two games.

Louisburg opened the triangular against Trail Ridge and won 33-19 behind 11 points from Lowry and six points from Keagle.

The Paola contest was a little tougher as the Lady Cats fell 32-23. Louisburg led most of the game before Paola pulled away in the fourth quarter. Lowry led Louisburg with 11 points and Vincent added five.

To start the season, Louisburg picked up a win over Pioneer Ridge and two over Spring Hill. In the third game of the season, the Lady Cats trailed Spring Hill with three seconds left in the game before Tappan put in the game-winner at the buzzer to win 24-23.

The Wildcats also had another victory over Ottawa, before losing back to back games to Baldwin and Pioneer Ridge.

Playing varsity for the Lady Cats are Emma Roy, Mackenzie Scholtz, Haley Cain, Sydni Keagle, Allie Boles, Reilly Ratliff, Gabby Tappan, Ashley Moore, Lauren Vincent, Kody Lowry, Bella Arriola and Gracen Lesher.

The Louisburg junior varsity team has also gotten off to a good start as they are 9-1 on the season, with their lone loss coming to Baldwin.

Playing for the junior varsity team is Lesher, Arriola, Kate Cassida, Skylar Pulliam, Kayla Willey, Shayla Aye, Gabby Dugger, Skylar Bowman, Libby Storey, Riley Papst and Shayla Meyer.