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)

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