Lady Cats fall on the road at Ottawa

Louisburg sophomore Zyleigh Melton goes up for a shot Friday during the Lady Cats’ game at Ottawa.

OTTAWA — The Louisburg girls basketball team was riding a mini 2-game winning streak heading into Friday’s contest at Ottawa. 

However, the Cyclones are one of the top teams in the Frontier League and were poised to end that streak. Ottawa used a big second quarter and pulled away to hand Louisburg a 45-29 loss.

Ottawa outscored Louisburg, 18-5, in the second quarter and made it difficult for the Lady Cats to get back in the game.

“Ottawa is a very talented team and playing at Ottawa is always a hard environment to play in,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “I thought we played hard and did a good job defending them with different defenses.”

Louisburg trailed by just seven after the first quarter, but an Ottawa run pushed the Cyclones’ lead to 20 points at halftime.

The Lady Cats didn’t give in, however. Louisburg held Ottawa to just 14 points in the second half and outscored the Cyclones, 14-4, in the final quarter.

“This team does not give up,” Lane said. “I love their heart and their grit. They battled the fourth quarter and did a great job running offense and not quitting.”

Louisburg got the opportunities on offense it wanted at times, but couldn’t get the shots to fall as the Lady Cats shot 23 percent from the field. Combined with 23 turnovers, that made it difficult to get the road win.

Junior Sami Lane led Louisburg in scoring with six points on a pair of 3-pointers, while junior Ashlyn Kuhlman had a team-high eight rebonds and three assists.

Jillian Asher and Zyleigh Melton each chipped in five points in the loss, while Sabra Brueggen had five rebounds and two assists.

Louisburg will go on the road tonight as the Lady Cats travel to Tonganoxie for a Frontier League contest. It will be a rematch of the Lady Cats’ season opening loss from back in December.

“The game at Tongie is a big game,” coach Lane said. “We need to get this win to help us get a spot in the postseason. I also think if we could play with Tongie it will show how much we have improved throughout the season.”

LOU 6 5 4 14 — 29

OTT 13 18 10 4 — 45

LOUISBURG (3-12): Sami Lane 2-7 0-0 6; Jillian Asher 2-2 0-0 5; Zyleigh Melton 1-5 3-3 5; Ashlyn Kuhlman 2-12 0-0 4; Sabra Brueggen 2-7 0-0 4; Ally Brown 1-3 0-0 3; Morgan Latham 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 11-47 3-5 29. 3-point field goals: (Lane 2, Asher, Brown)