Lady Cats squeak by Eudora to remain perfect on season

Louisburg junior Ashley Branine leaps through the air to save a ball from going out of bounds Tuesday at home against Eudora.

It wasn’t the prettiest game for Louisburg on Tuesday, but the end result was exactly what the Lady Cats were looking for.

Louisburg overcame a tough shooting night, but the Lady Cats held off Eudora for a 38-35 victory over the Cardinals at Louisburg High School. The win moves the Lady Cats, who are currently ranked No. 6 in Class 4A, to 6-0 on the season.

“I am very proud of them,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said of her team. “This one was a hard one for us. I feel that we struggled with matchups all night, who we were guarding and weak side help. For them to pull this out, they did a really good job.”

It was the first game back from the holiday break for both teams and the Lady Cats had to shake off a little rust. Louisburg shot 35 percent from the field, but just 2-for-17 from 3-point range.

Those two 3-point makes were big ones, however.

Eudora opened the second half on a 12-4 run, before senior Adyson Ross knocked down a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Louisburg a 29-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Senior Delanie Tally provided the Lady Cats with another big basket late in the fourth. Tally hit a 3-pointer from the corner to put Louisburg up 36-33 with 1:45 left in the game.

“They didn’t give up and that was a great thing to see,” Lane said. “We have to keep shooting and I encourage the girls to keep doing so, even if they are missing. We came up with some big shots there in the second half and it was nice to see those go in.”

Eudora cut the Louisburg lead to one on the next possession and had the opportunity to take the lead with under 20 seconds left in the game. Louisburg’s Ashley Branine and Ava Baker trapped Eudora’s Sawyer Schreiner and forced a travel with three seconds left.

Ross would then get fouled and converted both free throws to ice the game for the Lady Cats.

“They did exactly like I asked them to do,” Lane said. “They stood there with their hands up. The last few times down the floor we got called for fouls, so we did a great job there to force that travel.”

It was a close game throughout as Louisburg held a 10-9 lead after the first quarter, and it extended it to 22-16 at halftime. Eudora then opened the third on an 8-0 run and it went back-and-forth the rest of the way.

Ross led the Lady Cats in scoring with 13 points and also had a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Emma Lohse also finished in double figures with 10 points and three assists.

Senior Emma Prettyman finished with seven rebounds and also had a team-best four steals and two blocks. Senior point guard Brianne Kuhlman had a team-high four assists.

Louisburg will try and make it seven in a row tonight as the Lady Cats travel to Ottawa for a Frontier League matchup. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

LOU 10 12 7 9 — 38

EUD 9 7 12 7 — 35

LOUISBURG (6-0): Adyson Ross 5-9 2-3 13; Emma Lohse 5-6 0-2 10; Ava Baker 3-6 0-0 6; Ashley Branine 2-6 0-0 4; Delanie Tally 1-11 0-0 3; Emma Prettyman 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 17-48 2-5 38. 3-point field goals: 2, (Ross, Tally)