Lady Cats come up short on road to Frontenac

Louisburg junior Jillian Asher pulls up for a shot in the lane Thursday at Frontenac. Asher finished with a team-high 10 points in the Lady Cats’ loss at Frontenac.

FRONTENAC — The Louisburg girls basketball team is inching closer to that first win, but the Lady Cats will have to wait till after the holiday break to get it.

Louisburg put together its best offensive performance of the season Thursday at Frontenac, but came up just short in a 55-48 loss to the Raiders.

“It was nice to see some offense working in this game,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “This is the most points we have scored and I hope the girls can build off this.”

Despite the good offensive performance, the Lady Cats had to play catch-up from the start as they had a tough first quarter and trailed 17-7. 

Louisburg put together a comeback as it scored 16 points in the second quarter and the Lady Cats got a spark from Jillian Asher. The junior guard scored seven of her team-high 10 points in the second quarter, including a runner at the buzzer to trim the lead to just five at halftime.

“We have been talking a lot about playing all four quarters, but we got off to a slow start last night with only 7 points in the first quarter, but then we played with them the rest of the game,” Lane said. “We just need to put together four good quarters. Jill hitting a couple shots did help us get some momentum going into the second half.”

The Lady Cats continued to chip away at the lead in the second half. This time, they pounded the ball inside.

Forwards Sabra Brueggen, Morgan Latham and McKenna Lohse each scored on the inside, while Latham had back-to-back buckets in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 42-all with five minutes left in the contest.

Latham was second on the team with eight points, while Brueggen and Lohse had seven and six points, respectively.

“I thought the posts had a big night for us,” Lane said. “Sabra did a great job fighting for position, causing a lot of havoc under the basket. Kenna came in and gave us some great minutes and Morgan did as well. The posts were not afraid to take the ball to the basket or even look for an outside shot. I was very proud of them and how they played. 

“I thought the guards did a great job forcing the ball inside at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. I feel like that is how we got back into the game.”

However, in the final five minutes, Frontenac pulled away as it did to start the game. The Raiders finished on a 13-6 run to hand the Lady Cats their fifth loss of the season.

Junior Ashlyn Kuhlman also finished with seven points to help the Lady Cat offense, while junior Sami Lane had a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Ally Brown and Asher tied for team-high three assists and Brown also added five boards.

Louisburg will try and turn things around after the holiday break as the Lady Cats travel to Eudora on Jan. 4 in their first game back.

LOU 7 16 13 12 — 48

FRON 17 11 12 15 — 55

LOUISBURG (0-5): Jillian Asher 4-7 0-0 10; Morgan Latham 4-6 0-0 8; Sabra Brueggen 2-3 3-6 7; Ashlyn Kuhlman 2-12 2-3 7; McKenna Lohse 3-7 0-0 6; Shylar Whiting 2-4 0-0 5; Ally Brown 1-6 0-0 3; Sami Lane 1-7 0-0 2. Totals: 19-53 5-9 48. 3-point field goals: 5, (Asher 2, Kuhlman, Whiting, Brown)

Lady Cats fall on road to Baldwin

BALDWIN CITY — Despite getting off to a slow start offensively, Louisburg found itself still in the game last Tuesday against Baldwin.

Unfortunately, a rough third quarter helped give Baldwin a 42-23 victory over the Lady Cats at Baldwin Jr. High School.

The Bulldogs outscored Louisburg 14-4 in the third quarter and took an 18-point lead that the Lady Cats couldn’t come back from.

Louisburg trailed by just four after the first quarter, but scored a combined five points in the next two.

Junior Shylar Whiting led the Lady Cats in scoring with nine points and Ashlyn Kuhlman finished with five in the loss. Kuhlman also finished with a team-high eight rebounds and three assists.

Morgan Latham had six rebounds, while Sami Lane and Ally Brown each finished with five. Brown also had a team-high three steals.

LOU 7 1 4 11 — 23

BAL 11 5 14 12 — 42

LOUISBURG: Shylar Whiting 1-7 6-8 9; Ashlyn Kuhlman 1-8 2-4 5; Sabra Brueggen 1-2 0-2 2; Jillian Asher 1-3 0-0 2: Sami Lane 1-3 0-0 2; Morgan Latham 1-3 0-0 2; Ally Brown 0-7 1-2 1. Totals: 6-34 9-16 23. 3-point field goals: 2, (Kuhlman, Whiting)