Lady Cats battle but come up short in home loss to Anderson County

Louisburg junior Sami Lane pressures an Anderson County player into a turnover Friday at home. The Lady Cats fell to the Bulldogs, 35-31.

It ended up being another close loss for the Louisburg girls basketball team Friday against Anderson County, but the progress was there for the Lady Cats.

Anderson County had a size advantage, played a zone defense and both were obstacles for Louisburg. Still, the Lady Cats found themselves in a tight game with the Bulldogs.

Although it ended with a 35-31 Louisburg loss, there were definite positives to build on.

“I thought overall we played hard and we battled till the end,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “I do feel like we got better Friday. Our defense was great and we got some really good looks at the basket.”

Louisburg had to deal with Anderson County’s size underneath the basket, including that of Kylie Disbrow and Caitlyn Foltz. The Lady Cats held them to 13 and nine points, respectively.

They also held Anderson County to just 28 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers. 

“I thought defensively we did great,” Lane said./ “Any time you can hold a team to 35 points is great. Our key was to double team (Foltz and Disbrow) when they caught the ball and the girls did a great job with this. Our rebounding was also big, we did a great job being physical and going and getting the ball.”

Offensively, the Lady Cats had to find a way to get going against the Anderson County 2-3 zone. Louisburg showed patience, and got good looks at times, but couldn’t get the shots to fall.

Louisburg shot 21 percent from the field, but did pull down 15 offensive rebounds in order to get extra chances.

“The girls did a good job running the offense and getting into the middle of the zone,” Lane said. “We wanted to make their girls work hard on defense so they would be tired on offense. I felt we were getting great shots of the offense, we just couldn’t get enough to fall.”

The Lady Cats took a 19-18 lead at halftime thanks to a 3-pointer from Ashlyn Kuhlman and a bucket from Zyleigh Melton late in the second quarter.

Anderson County built another lead in the second half, but the Lady Cats cut into the Bulldog lead again as Shylar Whiting hit a 3-pointer and knocked in a free throw late in the fourth to cut deficit to two.

It would be as close as the Lady Cats would get as the Bulldogs knocked down enough free throws to seal the win.

Kuhlman led Louisburg in scoring with 10 points to go along with a team-high five rebounds and three steals. Junior Sami Lane scored seven, all in the first quarter, to help get the Lady Cats get out to a good start. She also finished with four rebounds. 

Melton and Whiting each finished with five points and junior Sabra Brueggen added four points. Junior Ally Brown also tallied a team-high five rebounds and two assists.

Louisburg will try and pick up its first win today as the Lady Cats travel to Baldwin. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

LOU 11 8 4 8 — 31

AC 14 4 8 9 — 35

LOUISBURG (0-3): Ashlyn Kuhlman 3-14 2-2 10; Sami Lane 3-12 0-0 7; Shylar Whiting 1-5 2-6 5; Zyleigh Melton 2-2 0-1 5; Sabra Brueggen 2-10 0-2 4. Totals: 11-52 4-11 31. 3-point field goals: 5, (Kuhlman 2, Melton, Whiting, Lane)

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