Ross, bench key Lady Cats in road win over Eudora

Louisburg senior Emma Lohse drives the lane Tuesday during the Lady Cats’ road win at Eudora. Lohse came off the bench to score 13 points.

EUDORA — The Louisburg girls found themselves in a difficult situation in the third quarter of Tuesday’s road contest against Eudora.

Eudora scored the first nine points of the second half to take the lead, plus senior forward Emma Prettyman had to sit with four fouls. The Lady Cats needed a spark and they got it from their bench.

Senior Emma Lohse, junior Ashley Branine and sophomore Mackenzie Rooney played valuable minutes in the second half to help give the Lady Cats the lead back.

Senior starter Adyson Ross took over from there as she scored nine fourth quarter points to help Louisburg escape Eudora, 38-34, as the Lady Cats moved to 12-6 on the season.

Louisburg, which had a two-point lead going into the fourth, got two 3-pointers from Lohse and Ross to give the Lady Cats a little cushion in the final minutes.

Ross then hit a runner with two minutes left to give Louisburg a five-point lead. She would then go on to hit four consecutive free throws in the final seconds and finished with a team-high 16 points. She also tallied a team-high six rebounds.

“Adyson did great and finished hard,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “I told the girls at halftime that even if your shots aren’t going in, you just need to keep shooting. Adyson finally got one to go, and it was a big one. She made some big plays there for us in the fourth quarter.”

The Lady Cats wouldn’t have been in that position for Ross’ heroics without the play of their bench, especially in the second half.

Lohse was second on the team in scoring with 13 points on the night, while Branine finished with six. Along with Rooney, all three provided a big defensive presence for Louisburg.

“Those three came in and played super hard and really gave us some good minutes,” Lane said. “When both Emma and Mack were in, we played super fast. I told the girls to take advantage of that and get out and play fast. Ashley has been playing so good lately. She has been rebounding and keeping the ball alive and doing a great job. Those three played some big minutes for us.”

It wasn’t the best of offensive nights for the Lady Cats, but they used their defense to get the road win. Louisburg forced 15 Eudora turnovers and held the Cardinals to just 31 percent shooting.

The Lady Cats scored 23 points off those Eudora mistakes. Louisburg will certainly take the win as they head into the final week of the regular season.

“A win is a win I would say,” Lane said. “We were able to play some good defense. We played a little zone, which is something different for us, and I think the girls did a good job with that.”

Louisburg will play their home regular season finale Tuesday when the Wildcats host Paola for Senior Night as the Lady Cats honor their seven seniors.

It will make for an emotional evening when they square off with their rival.

“Paola always wants to beat us,” Lane said. “I told the girls that their record doesn’t show how good of a team they are. They are fast, physical and they are going to want to come in and get a win. It will be a hard night with Senior Night, so we are going to have to play well.”

LOU 7 13 6 12 — 38

EUD 2 11 11 10 — 34

LOUISBURG (12-6): Adyson Ross 4-15 5-6 14; Emma Lohse 4-6 3-3 13; Ashley Branine 3-4 0-0 6; Ava Baker 1-7 0-1 3; Delanie Tally 1-8 0-0 2. Totals: 13-45 8-11 38. 3-point field goals: 4, (Lohse 2, Ross, Baker)

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