Louisburg girls fall short on the road to ranked Ottawa

OTTAWA — Going on the road against a ranked team is always a challenge, but the Louisburg girls basketball team more than held its own Tuesday in Ottawa. 

The Wildcats found themselves down just a point midway through the fourth quarter, but No. 8 Ottawa put together a big run late in the contest to hand Louisburg a 52-45 loss.

Ottawa went on a mini 9-3 run in the final four minutes of the contest to pull away from the Wildcats as it took advantage of some Louisburg mistakes. 

“Overall we played hard and battled against Ottawa,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “They are a great team, fast, and they know the game of basketball. We fought to be in the game with them till the very end. Our defense played well, we gave them a couple different looks and I thought the girls did a good job running different defenses.”

Louisburg got out to a good start as it led 10-7 after the first quarter, but the Cyclones battled back to outscore Louisburg 16-11 in the second quarter to take a 2-point halftime lead.

Ottawa pushed its lead to six in the third quarter, but a 3-pointer from Ally Brown right before the end of the quarter cut the Cyclone lead to 3. 

The Cyclones pushed its lead back out to seven in the fourth, but the Wildcats came back again. Senior Ashlyn Kuhlman knocked in a 3-pointer to make it a 39-35 deficit for Louisburg.

Ottawa got the lead back to six, but Kuhlman hit a runner with just over three minutes left and junior McKenna Lohse converted a 3-point play to make it a 43-42 game with 2:50 remaining.

Unfortunately, the Cyclones took advantage of some offensive rebounds and Wildcat turnovers to finish with a 9-3 run.

Mistakes haunted the Wildcats as they committed 27 turnovers, which led to 22 Ottawa points. The Cyclones also pulled down 22 offensive rebounds.

Despite that, the Wildcats shot 46 percent from the floor, which was able to keep them in the game.

“Our turnovers and giving up second chances hurt us down the stretch,” Lane said. “We did a good job finishing in the lane when we did break the press.”

Lohse had a big night for the Wildcats inside as she recorded a double-double. The Louisburg junior finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and also had two blocks.

Kuhlman led the Wildcat scoring with 12 points and also had two blocked shots. Senior Jillian Asher finished just short of double figures with nine points and three assists.

Senior Shylar Whiting paced Louisburg with five assists, while senior Sami Lane was second on the team with four rebounds. Junior Morgan Latham and Brown each finished with five points.

Louisburg will face off with its second ranked team in as many games tonight as the Wildcats host No. 6 Wamego. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

LOU 10 11 11 13 — 45

OTT 7 16 12 18 — 52

LOUISBURG (0-2): Ashlyn Kuhlman 5-11 0-0 12; McKenna Lohse 5-11 1-1 11; Jillian Asher 3-4 1-2 9; Morgan Latham 2-5 1-2 5; Ally Brown 2-3 0-0 5; Shylar Whiting 1-2 1-1 3. Totals: 18-39 4-6 45. 3-point field goals: 5, (Asher 2, Kuhlman 2, Brown)