Louisburg second half rally comes up short against Eudora

Louisburg sophomore Zyleigh Melton puts up a shot in the lane last Tuesday at home against Eudora.

The Louisburg girls basketball team put together a strong second half against Eudora last Tuesday at home.

Unfortunately, the Lady Cats didn’t quite have enough to overcome a rough first half. Eudora handed Louisburg a 38-30 loss after the Lady Cats held the Cardinals to just 14 second half points.

Louisburg outscored Eudora 19-14 in the second half, but scored just 11 first half points and committed 25 turnovers for the game.

“We played good in the second half for sure, and if we could figure out the first half I think we would be winning more basketball games,” Louisburg coach Adrianne Lane said. “We beat them in the second half so that was good and I think the girls did fine. It took us a minute to get going, but the girls played hard.”

The Lady Cats were without two players due to illness, so they were playing short-handed, but battled to the end. Louisburg found itself down 15 points midway through the third quarter, but the Lady Cats were to trim the deficit to just five at one point.

Eudora had a 30-15 lead with under three minutes left in the third, but the Lady Cats went on a 10-1 run that went into the fourth quarter.

Addy Stohs started it with a free throw, Zyleigh Melton knocked down a 3-pointer and Ashlyn Kuhlman made a basket and was fouled that ended the third. 

In the fourth, Kuhlman hit a pair of free throws and Sabra Brueggen knocked in a basket to make it a 6-point game. After a 3-pointer by Eudora, the Lady Cats followed with four straight points from Melton, that included her second 3-pointer to cut it to five.

Louisburg could get no closer as it scored just one point in the final four minutes and the Cardinals were able to hold on for the win.

“We obviously cut the turnovers down a little in the second half, but we also started going to the basket more,” Lane said. “I think that opens up more shots for everybody and we were able to hit some shots from the outside. 

“Our defense is getting better and that is why we are getting better. We are playing solid defense, we are rebounding pretty well, but we just need to find some offense somewhere.”

Melton led the Lady Cat offense with nine points on the night. Kuhlman added seven points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.

Brueggen paced Louisburg on the glass with a team-high 11 rebounds.

Louisburg will try and bounce back Tuesday as the Lady Cats travel to rival Paola. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

LOU 6 5 10 9 — 30

EUD 13 11 6 8 — 38

LOUISBURG (4-14): Zyleigh Melton 3-7 1-2 9; Ashlyn Kuhlman 1-9 5-7 7; Sabra Brueggen 1-4 3-6 5; Shylar Whiting 2-3 0-0 4; Sami Lane 2-6 0-0 4; Addy Stohs 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 9-36 10-17 30. 3-point field goals: 2, (Melton 2)

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