Lady Cats down Anderson County for first victory

Louisburg freshman Haley Cain battles for a rebound during the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic against Anderson County at Burlington Middle School. Cain and sophomore Carson Buffington led the Lady Cats with seven rebounds each.

BURLINGTON – Louisburg girls basketball coach Shawn Lowry has seen some sort of improvement from his team every time the Lady Cats hit the floor.

They just haven’t had much to show for it – that was until Friday.

Louisburg faced off with Anderson County in the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic in Burlington and the Lady Cats got their first notch in the win column. The Lady Cats defeated Anderson County 46-34 to snap a three-game losing streak to start the season – a season that began by playing two state-ranked teams and a Class 5A program.

“We are currently building and we aren’t the team that we are going to be midway through the season and we aren’t the team we are going to be at the end of the year,” Lowry said. “We have a lot of growth to do yet, and I think the girls recognize that, but what I do love is how they are playing. The way they are getting on the floor for loose balls, the way they are defending and rebounding for the most part.”

The Lady Cats (1-3) had to do a lot of dirty work against an Anderson County team that wanted to slow down the pace of the game and the Bulldogs made it difficult for them to get in a rhythm offensively.

Louisburg won the game thanks to hustle plays and big baskets from seniors Madisen Simpson and Paige Buffington. Simpson, who scored a game-high 17 points, connected on three 3-pointers and came up with big baskets to stop an Anderson County run.

Buffington and fellow senior Tayler Lancaster were also big as they finished with nine and eight points, respectively.

“All of the girls are embracing their roles and that is really cool to see as a coach,” Lowry said. “We have some good senior leadership, and when there is adversity, they are going to step up. I don’t have any doubt in that.

“The others are going to follow their lead, and they are leading by what they are doing, and not what they are saying. You see girls like Paige, Tayler and (junior) Isabelle Holtzen diving for loose balls and that is great to see.”

Anderson County got off to a quick start with a 4-0 lead to start the game, but the Lady Cats took control of the game after that with an 18-6 run that carried over into the second quarter that started thanks to a couple quick baskets from senior Chloe Renner.

Senior Madisen Simpson draws a foul as she goes up for a shot during Friday’s contest against Anderson County.

Simpson tied the game at the end of the first quarter with a steal and a score, and then gave the Lady Cats the lead with a pair of free throws. Simpson then hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, while Buffington converted on a 3-point play to help Louisburg to a 27-19 lead at halftime.

The Bulldogs cut the Louisburg lead to five points early in the third quarter, but would get no closer. Along with a few baskets down the stretch, the Lady Cats made their living at the free-throw line as they converted 18 of 31 for the game.

“I knew Anderson County was going to make it tough and that they were going to make it a sloppy dogfight and that is what it was,” Lowry said. “We talked about that going into the game. The good thing about that is that we can play that way. We can play several different styles. The girls were really excited to get the win, though.”

Although they didn’t have a big scoring line, the Lady Cats had a nice rebounding game from three players. Sophomore Carson Buffington and freshman Haley Cain had seven rebounds to lead Louisburg and senior Emalee Overbay had six in the win.

Junior Isabelle Holtzen also played well defensively with a team-high four steals and Simpson added three.

Louisburg will leave tournament play behind and get started in Frontier League play beginning Tuesday when it hosts Eudora for its home opener. The Lady Cats will then hit the road again next Monday to play Ottawa before taking a break for the holidays.

“After getting a chance to play Baldwin the other night in this tournament, we are ready to get league play started,” Lowry said. “More importantly, we are ready to play at home. We want to play in front of our crowd and fans and we are excited for that as much as anything.”

LOU               12           15           8             11 – 46

AC                  10           9             8             7 – 34

LOUISBURG (1-3): Madisen Simpson 17, Paige Buffington 9, Tayler Lancaster 8, Chloe Renner 4, Carson Buffington 3, Haley Cain 2, Emalee Overbay 2, Ryan Caldwell 1. Totals: 12-41 18-31 46. 3-point field goals: 4, (Simpson 3, Lancaster)

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