Lady Cats fall to No. 4 Paola in finale

By Andy Brown
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Updated: March 1, 2016

Louisburg junior Emalee Overbay looks to get up a shot during the Lady Cats’ game with Paola earlier this season in Louisburg. The Lady Cats fell 74-30 to Paola on Friday at Paola High School.

PAOLA – Going on the road for an opposing team’s senior night is difficult for any program, but it is even more difficult when you are going up against a ranked opponent.

The Louisburg High School girls basketball team faced off with Paola, the No. 4 ranked team in Class 4A-Division I, on Friday in Paola and it was a challenge from the opening tip.

Paola was sharp from the start as it defeated Louisburg 74-30 and captured its fourth consecutive Frontier League title. As for the Lady Cats, it was hard to keep up with Paola as the Panthers connected on 11 3-pointers to pull away.

The Panthers jumped out to a 26-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Paola led 45-17 at halftime.

Louisburg junior Madisen Simpson was a bright spot offensively for the Lady Cats as she racked up 17 of the team’s 30 points, including four 3-pointeres.

Fellow junior Paige Buffington added seven points in the loss and freshman Carson Buffington led Louisburg in the rebounding department with a game-high 14 boards.

Although the regular season is now complete, it doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Cats, who will host the Class 4A substate tournament beginning on Thursday. Louisburg (3-17), the No. 4 seed, will meet up with No. 1 seed Paola (18-2) again at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

No. 2 Spring Hill (11-9) and No. 3 Fort Scott (7-13) will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday and the two winners will play in the championship game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

LOUISBURG 12 5 11 2 – 30

PAOLA 26 19 22 7 – 74

LOUISBURG (3-17): Madisen Simpson 5-13 3-4 17; Paige Buffington 2-7 2-2 7; Isabelle Holtzen 1-6 1-2 3; Haven Turner 1-1 0-0 2; Megan Lemke 0-8 1-2 1. Totals: 9-38 7-10 30. 3-point field goals: 5, (Simpson 4, Buffington 1)