Baldwin girls too much for Lady Cats

By Andy Brown
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Updated: February 18, 2016

Louisburg sophomore Isabelle Holtzen dribbles past a Baldwin defender during Tuesday’s contest at Louisburg High School. The Lady Cats fell to No. 5 ranked Baldwin 62-34.

The Louisburg girls basketball team knew Baldwin was one of the better teams in the state coming into Tuesday’s contest.

Baldwin didn’t do anything that changed the Lady Cats’ mind.

The Bulldogs, the No. 5 team in Class 4A Division II, showed why they had the high ranking as they defeated Louisburg 62-34 at Louisburg High School.

“They are a good team,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “They have some really nice players, but they work really hard and give a lot of effort. It is hard to not watch them and like how they play the game. Hats off to (Baldwin coach) Bob (Martin) and those guys, they do a really nice job.”

Louisburg (3-14) had a tough time breaking Baldwin’s full-court press, and in turn, the Bulldogs were able to score several points off Lady Cat turnovers. Baldwin jumped out to a 13-3 lead after the first quarter and scored 24 points in the second to build a 37-12 halftime.

Baldwin was also able to connect from the outside as it hit eight 3-pointers on the night.

“We weren’t very strong with the ball and you have to give credit to Baldwin,” Lowry said. “They made some adjustments to their press since the first time that we played, so that flustered us early on a little.”

The Lady Cats offense was able to get going in the third quarter as they scored more points in the one frame than they did the entire first half. Louisburg put up 14 points in the third to finish out the game with some positives.

Junior Madisen Simpson led the Lady Cats in scoring with 12 points and sophomore Isabelle Holtzen added seven in the loss. Freshman forward Carson Buffington led Louisburg with 11 rebounds on the night to go along with six points.

Louisburg will try and get back on track Friday when it hosts Spring Hill in its next-to-last home game. Tipoff is set for approximately 6 p.m.

“We are going to keep working hard and come back to practice and work on some things,” Lowry said. “I need some of our leaders to step up and set the tone for the rest of this season, which they will do. I believe in these girls.”

LOUISBURG 3 9 14 8 – 34

BALDWIN 13 24 17 8 – 62

LOUISBURG (3-14): Madisen Simpson 3-13 4-4 12; Isabelle Holtzen 2-3 1-2 7; Carson Buffington 3-5 0-2 6; Emalee Overbay 2-2 0-0 4; Julianne Finley 1-1 0-0 2; Bailey Kern 0-3 2-3 2; Paige Buffington 0-4 1-2 1. Totals: 12-38 7-11 34. 3-point field goals: 3, (Simpson 2, Holtzen)