Lady Cats overcome struggles to down Anderson County

Louisburg sophomore Brooklyn Diederich drives past an Anderson County player Friday in Garnett. The Lady Cats pulled away for a 53-43 victory over the Bulldogs.

GARNETT – For most of the game’s 32 minutes, the defense of the Louisburg girls basketball team made things difficult on Anderson County.

The Lady Cats forced Anderson County into 33 turnovers on the road and it led to a 53-43 victory Friday at Anderson County High School. As nice as those stats were for Louisburg, the game still left plenty for the Lady Cats to work on.

Offensively, Louisburg turned the ball over 19 times and several players were saddled with foul trouble for most of the first half. Still, despite those things, a win away from home trumps everything.

“Any time you can compete and win a game on the road, it is a good win,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “Anderson County is a program that is getting better and you can see that in the way they were playing. Any time you can go on the road and play that hard, make a lot of mistakes and still come away with a win is great.”

It was a rough start for both teams as both scored just seven points in what was a turnover-filled first quarter. The Lady Cats were able to settle down offensively in the second quarter and put some distance between themselves and the Bulldogs.

Louisburg outscored Anderson County 21-10 in the second quarter and took a 28-17 lead at halftime. The Lady Cats were able to do that despite the fact they had three players with three fouls in the first half.

Sophomore Brooklyn Diederich, junior Sydni Keagle and senior Kennia Hankinson came off the bench to provide crucial minutes for Louisburg. Diederich scored a season-high 11 points and was active defensively.

“Brooklyn came off the bench and I thought she played really hard,” Lowry said. “Offensively she did some good things, but defensively she helped us a lot there. Kennia came off the bench, and since it is her first game back, it is going to take her a little bit to get going, but I think she worked through the nerves and contributed a lot. I was really proud of what Sydni did out there as well. They all gave us big minutes.”

Sophomore Madilyn Melton was a steady force offensively for the Lady Cats as she finished with a game-high 20 points and had five rebounds.

Junior Erin Lemke had a game-high seven rebounds for Louisburg, while sophomore Alyse Moore and junior Haley Cain each had six rebounds. Senior Carson Buffington and Moore both finished with seven points to help the Lady Cats, while Buffington and Diederich led the way defensively with four steals each.

Louisburg (2-1) continued to put away Anderson County in the third quarter as it tallied 18 points in the frame and forced 12 Bulldog turnovers that helped the Lady Cats build a 49-28 lead early in the fourth quarter.

“We still have a lot of stuff to clean up rotation-wise and we are not flying to the ball like we need to, but with that said, the base stuff we are doing I really like,” Lowry said of his defense. “The girls are seeing more all the time and are working hard at it. This is only our third game running it, so we will only get better at it.

“We have to get better at scoring the ball. We are getting opportunities, but we just need to be able to finish. We will work on that and part of it is mentality to be able to finish.”

It was the best of both worlds for Lowry on Friday as his team was able to get a win, but also gave him a list of things to work on at practice as the Lady Cats prepared for their game at Frontenac today.

“I am excited to watch film with the girls on this one because there are plethora of teaching moments in this game,” he said. “I think it still speaks to how inexperienced we are in some places and some of the things that we are doing. We can fix all that stuff and work on it, but I still like their effort and toughness in making those mistakes. We are going to keep getting better.”

LOU               7             21           18           9 – 53

AC                  7             10           11           15 – 43

LOUISBURG (2-1): Madilyn Melton 8-10 3-3 20; Brooklyn Diederich 4-10 3-3 11; Carson Buffington 3-10 0-0 7; Alyse Moore 2-10 3-8 7; Erin Lemke 1-4 1-2 3; Haley Cain 0-2 2-2 2; Sydni Keagle 1-1 0-0 2; Kennia Hankinson 0-5 1-2 1. Totals: 19-52 13-20 53. 3-point field goals: 2, (Melton, Buffington)

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