Spring Hill trips up Lady Cats

By Andy Brown
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Updated: January 22, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg senior Bailey Belcher goes up for a layup Wednesday during the Lady Cats’ game at Spring Hill. Belcher scored a team-high 13 points in the 70-37 loss.

SPRING HILL – It was a game the Louisburg High School girls basketball team wanted to quickly forget.

The Lady Cats had a tough time stopping a Spring Hill team that lived in the paint as the Broncos handed Louisburg a 70-37 loss Wednesday at Spring Hill High School.

It was game that featured mistakes on both ends of the floor for Louisburg, but if there is a positive, those mistakes are all correctable.

“We had breakdowns and those are things we are going to have to get back into practice and work on,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “Part of it is some inexperience, at this point though, we have to start to reduce that. We are no longer a senior, junior, a sophomore or a freshman. We are a group of basketball players and we each have individual jobs to do.

“This is a good group of kids and they are going to work their tails off. They want to do the right things and they care about each other. This bothers them and I am going to be anxious to see how they respond.”

Spring Hill jumped out to a big lead early and never let up and it led Louisburg 36-19 at halftime. After an even third quarter, the Broncos went on a 21-4 run in the fourth to seal the win.

The Broncos were able to run a lot of motion offense, which led to a lot of easy points near the basket, and Louisburg couldn’t get enough stops early on in the game.

“They are a good team, but we didn’t rise to the occasion of playing a good team,” Lowry said. “We have some things to figure out about ourselves and each other. We play in one of the strongest tournaments in the state next week we are going to find out a lot about ourselves and how we will respond to how we played against Spring Hill.”

Louisburg senior Bailey Belcher led the Lady Cats in scoring with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and also added seven rebounds.

Forward Carson Buffington was one point away from another double-double for Louisburg as he finished with nine points to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Haley Cain and Madilyn Melton added five rebounds in the loss, and senior guard Isabelle Holtzen had a team-high four assists.

This week will present several challenges for the Lady Cats as they compete in the Top Gun Tournament at Wellsville High School beginning Tuesday. Louisburg is the No. 7 seed and will open with No. 2 Piper, which is currently undefeated on the season. The Lady Cats will also play on Thursday and Saturday.

Along with Piper, which is ranked No. 3 in Class 4A-Division I, is Baldwin (No. 1 in Class 4A-DII), Lansing (No. 1 in 5A) and Nemaha Central (No. 3 in 3A).

“It is a fantastic midseason tournament just looking at the teams that will be there,” Lowry said. “There is one of the best teams in 3A there in Nemaha Central. Baldwin and Piper are undefeated in 4A, then you mix in a Lansing team that is ranked No. 1 in 5A. Wellsville and Spring Hill are really nice teams too. It is an incredible field of teams and it will be a fun one to be a part of.”

LOU 9 12 12 4 – 37

SH 18 18 13 21 – 70

LOUISBURG (4-6): Bailey Belcher 13, Carson Buffington 9, Carlee Gassman 5, Isabelle Holtzen 4, Haley Cain 3, Sydni Keagle 2, Madilyn Melton 1. Totals: 11-58 10-26 37. 3-point field goals: 5, (Belcher 3, Buffington 2)