Bench helps Lady Cats in win over Metro Academy

Freshman Delaney Wright drives to the basket on a Metro Academy defender last Tuesday in Louisburg.

It wasn’t a typical game for the
Louisburg girls basketball team last Tuesday as it prepared for its next to
last game of the season against rival Paola.

The Lady Cats hosted Metro
Academy, an Olathe school that is not part of the Kansas State High School
Activities Association, and one the team wasn’t familiar with.

Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry
decided to use that opportunity to go down deeper into his bench to get players
some varsity time ahead of postseason play. Several Lady Cats made an impact on
the game as they came away with a 46-36 win and picked up their second straight
victory in the process.

Lowry subbed in five players at a
time through most of the game and the Lady Cats were able to wear down Metro
Academy.

“It was an opportunity for us to
look at some different lineups or rotations for postseason looks,” Lowry said. “It
wasn’t our Senior Night and it was a different opponent than we are used to. It
allowed us to do some different things and gave girls an opportunity to show
what they can do.”

Junior Madilyn Melton was a force
inside for the Lady Cats as she finished with a game-high 18 points, including
an 8 for 9 performance from the free-throw line, and also had a team-high four
steals.

Junior Sydni Keagle came off the
bench and was second on the team in scoring, along with sophomore Brooklyn
Diederich, who each finished with six points.

Freshman Delaney Wright also
helped Louisburg defensively with four steals and senior Carson Buffington had
a team-high seven rebounds and four assists. Juniors Erin Lemke and Ashley
Moore, sophomores Madison Quinn and Megan Foote and freshman Jordan Mynsted
also gave the Lady Cats good minutes

“I am extremely proud of those girls
that came in off the bench,” Lowry said. “I think they were a little
shell-shocked at first, but once they settled in, I thought their defense was
really good, they caused turnovers, were active and did a really nice job.”

It was a back and forth game for
much of the first half, but the Lady Cats ended the second quarter strong as
they went on an 11-0 run thanks to baskets from Melton, Diederich, Quinn and
Mynsted to take a 27-19 halftime lead.

Metro Academy cut the Louisburg
lead to one early in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Cats went on another 8-2
run to put the game away.

“As a coach, I need to see those
starters or regular players show a little more intensity,” Lowry said. “We have
to get more intensity and that is on our captains to set the tone for us and
they will do that. They have a done it all year. It was a little different
night and had so many distractions, but now it is time to get dialed in.”

LOU               9             18           6             12 – 46

MA                11           8             10           7 – 36

LOUISBURG: Madilyn Melton 5-10 8-9
18; Brooklyn Diederich 2-4 0-0 6; Sydni Keagle 1-1 3-4 6; Erin Lemke 2-4 0-0 5;
Jordan Mynsted 2-5 0-0 4; Delaney Wright 1-4 2-3 4; Madison Quinn 0-2 2-2 2;
Carson Buffington 0-2 1-2 1. Totals: 13-45 16-20 46. 3-point field goals: 4,
(Diederich 2, Keagle, Lemke)