Lady Cats outlast Eudora in physical league contest

Senior Brooklyn Diederich gets on the floor for a loose ball Thursday against Eudora.

When it came to the postseason standings, Thursday’s game with Eudora was meaningless for the Louisburg girls basketball team.

The sub-state brackets have already been set and the game was more of a formality than anything else.

But for the Lady Cats, they needed a win to get back on the winning track after losing two straight games. Louisburg had a battle on its hands with Eudora, but were able to hold on for a 41-38 victory over the Cardinals.

“We needed that big time,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “We’ve had a couple rough losses lately and the girls really needed to get this win. Our teamwork was much better and I think you could tell in this one that we had worked on being a better team.”

Eudora showed early on just how much it wanted this game as they were on the floor for loose ball and were playing aggressive defense. The intensity seemed to catch the Lady Cats off-guard early on as the Cardinals jumped out to a 13-2 start.

Instead of backing down, the Lady Cats slowly but surely whittled away at the Eudora lead. In the second quarter, Louisburg buckled down defensively and outscored the Cardinals 11-4 and were down just one point at halftime.

Down five points going into the fourth quarter, Louisburg made one final run. Baskets from Delaney Wright and Madilyn Melton, along with free throws from Alyse Moore helped tie the game at 32-all.

Late in the fourth, Louisburg was down two until Wright drove to the basket, made the basket, was fouled and converted the old-fashioned 3-point play. 

Eudora responded with a basket of its own to take the lead back, but Moore put Louisburg up 39-38 with 1:45 left. A couple defensive stops later, Louisburg senior Megan Foote found herself at the free-throw line with 16 seconds left.

Foote converted both in the 1-in-1 opportunity to put Louisburg up three. Eudora’s Harper Schreiner hit a 3-pointer that would have tied the game, but it was after the buzzer sounded.

“I think we have matured this season and we are at the point where we can win games like this one,” Lane said. “Each person that was out there played an important role and battled every single minute they were out there. 

“I thought the rotation was good and we were able get to girls rest. It was just a battle. We are a physical team, so maybe we play better when it is that physical of a game, but I thought the girls did a great job.”

Louisburg was able to contain one of the state’s best point guards in Schriener as both Foote and Wright took turns guard the all-state guard. They held her to 3 of 19 shooting and she finished with just nine points.

“They did a great job on Harper, and I thought it kept our girls a little more fresh,” Lane said. “Once she got rid of the ball, I thought they did a good job of not letting her get it back and I think that was key for our win.”

Junior Jordan Mynsted led Louisburg in scoring with 10 points and pulled down six rebounds. Moore finished with eight points and eight rebounds, while senior Madilyn Melton and a team-high nine rebounds and two blocks.

Senior guard Brooklyn Diederich also did a good job finding opening teammates as she led the team with seven assists.

Louisburg is back in action tonight when it hosts Paola for its final regular season game, which is also Senior Night. The Lady Cats will honor their four seniors, Foote, Melton, Diederich and Moore.

“It will be emotional, but we know this will not be our last home game,” Lane said. “We are going to keep the emotions in check and remember that we still get to play more games at home this year. Those four have been playing in this program for a long time and have put a lot of minutes in on the varsity court, so I think it will be an emotional night for those girls, their parents and the rest of our team.”

LOU 7 11 7 16 — 41

EUD 15 4 11 8 — 38

LOUISBURG (15-4): Jordan Mynsted 5-9 0-0 10; Alyse Moore 4-6 0-0 8; Delaney Wright 2-6 2-3 6; Brianne Kuhlman 1-2 2-3 5; Brooklyn Diederich 2-7 0-0 5; Madilyn Melton 2-5 1-2 5; Megan Foote 0-8 2-2 2. Totals: 16-43 7-10 41. 3-point field goals: 2, (Kuhlman, Diederich)

Lady Cats lose close game to SM South

Louisburg couldn’t have asked for a better start on the road against a Class 6A program.

The Lady Cats jumped out with eight straight points to start Monday’s game at Shawnee Mission South. The rest of the contest didn’t go as smoothly.

Louisburg, which held a one-point at halftime thanks to a 3-pointer from Megan Foote at the buzzer, fell in a close game to the Raiders, 51-48.

“I thought the girls played hard and battled this entire game,” Lane said. “I felt that we did a good job running offense, but we had a hard time finishing some of our shots.”

Alyse Moore, who recorded her 500th career rebound in the first half, finished the game with a team-high 14 points and 10 rebounds. Foote also scored in double figures with 10 points.

Senior Madilyn Melton had six points, but also had 10 rebounds and a team-high three assists.

Louisburg also got a good defensive performance from junior Delaney Wright.

“I thought Delaney did a great job guarding South’s  best guard,” Lane said. “She played very hard and battled. Alyse was awesome on both sides of the ball, she was leading scorer and she did a great job rebounding and helping on defense.

LOU 10 15 10 13 — 48

SMS 8 15 13 15 — 51

LOUISBURG: Alyse Moore 6-16 2-3 14; Megan Foote 4-9 0-0 10; Madilyn Melton 3-11 0-0 6; Brianne Kuhlman 2-5 0-0 5; Brooklyn Diederich 2-8 0-2 5; Delaney Wright 1-3 2-2 4; Jordan Mynsted 1-11 2-2 4. Totals: 19-63 6-9 48. 3-point field goals: 4, (Foote 2, Kuhlman, Diederich)