The Louisburg boys basketball team receives its third-place trophy and celebrates its comeback victory over Bishop Seabury on Saturday at the Baldwin Invitational.

BALDWIN CITY – Everything seemed
to be going against the Louisburg boys basketball team.

The Wildcats had to play two games
in a span of six hours, they dealt with foul trouble and found themselves down
15 points in the third quarter to the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2A in the
third-place game of the Baldwin Invitational.

Not exactly the recipe for a
comeback.

However, that is just what the
Wildcats did.

Louisburg overcame a 15-point
deficit to force overtime, and took advantage of its newfound opportunity, as the
Wildcats pulled away for a 70-63 win over Bishop Seabury for its highest finish
ever in the Baldwin Invitational.

“It was a huge win for us,”
Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We knew going into this tournament that
we needed to get a signature win and Seabury is a very, very good team. They
have good guards and they have good post players inside and they were putting
it on us in the first half. We challenged the kids at halftime and questioned
their toughness a little bit because they were able to do whatever they wanted
inside and had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half.

“To me it was all about effort. It
wasn’t that our kids weren’t playing hard, because I think they always do, but
there is another level of effort in us and obviously they showed that in the
second half. They went into an offensive funk and we hit some shots. We had to
take it one possession at time and we did.”

The Wildcats (5-5) whittled away
at the Seabury lead slowly but surely and it started with sophomore Julian
Margrave as he scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and in
overtime. He also added seven rebounds and two blocks.

Margrave hit a pair of free throws
to cut Seabury’s lead to five heading into the fourth quarter and the Wildcats
started to get its momentum from there.

It was still a five-point deficit
when senior Garrett Rolofson made back-to-back baskets, including one on an
assist from Ben Guetterman to make it 55-54. Then, after another defensive
stop, Guetterman knocked down a 3-pointer with under a minute left to put the
Wildcats up 57-55.

Seabury’s Zach Bloch hit a jumper
to tie the game with just seconds remaining to force overtime, but that didn’t
slow down the Wildcats much.

In the overtime, junior Weston
Guetterman drove the lane for a basket to the give the lead right back to
Louisburg and the Wildcats wouldn’t let it go. Ben Guetterman made another 3-pointer
to increase the lead to five and the Wildcats converted six straight free
throws, including four from Margrave, to secure the win.

“It was a great win,” Margrave
said. “We were able to come back thanks to a great effort from a lot of guys.
Pfannenstiel gave us a good talk at halftime and you could tell he was pretty
serious. That really gave us motivation for the second half.

“We needed everyone and everyone
showed out, whether it was a big offensive rebound, a defensive rebound, a
steal or even just great defense that doesn’t go in the stat book. That is the
stuff that helps us win and it is not always about points.”

Ben Guetterman had a big game for
the Wildcats despite picking up four fouls in the first half. Ben played
sparingly in the third quarter, but finished the game with 19 points and six
rebounds.

Margrave and Guetterman were later
named to the All-Tournament Team for their performance in their three games at
Baldwin.

Weston Guetterman also scored in
double figures with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists as he and Margrave
played nearly the entire game. Rolofson was three assists away from a
triple-double for the Wildcats as he finished with 10 points and a team-high 10
rebounds and seven assists.

“In the first half we had decent
looks, but the ball just wasn’t going in the basket,” Pfannenstiel said. “We
had to execute better in the second half and I thought we did that. Julian was
big for us and Ben played really well, especially having to play with some
fouls. Overall, I think everyone played to their role and it was a good team
win.”

Louisburg has another busy week
ahead of itself and it begins today when it travels to Eudora for a make-up
contest. The Wildcats will then play Spring Hill and Baldwin on Friday and
Saturday, respectively.

LOU               15           6             21           16           12 – 70

SEA                17           17           13           11           5 – 63

LOUISBURG (5-5): Julian Margrave
8-12 7-8 26; Ben Guetterman 7-18 2-2 19; Weston Guetterman 4-10 5-7 13; Garrett
Rolofson 5-8 0-2 10; Charlie Peters 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 25-56 14-21 70. 3-point
field goals: 6, (B. Guetterman 3, Margrave 3)

Wildcats fall to state-ranked Harmon

Louisburg knew it was going to
have its hands full against Harmon, the No. 3-ranked team in Class 6A, in the
semifinals Saturday morning in the Baldwin Invitational.

Harmon showed why it is considered
one of the best teams in the state.

The Wildcats fell behind early and
could never catch back up as they fell 68-46. Augusta would go on to beat
Harmon in the championship game, 54-46.

Harmon jumped out to a 21-7 lead at
the end of the first quarter and led 36-15 at halftime. It was a start the
Wildcats couldn’t recover from.

Sophomore Julian Margrave led Louisburg
in scoring with 18 points, four rebounds and two steals. Senior Michael Waldron
and junior Charlie Peters each finished with eight points, while Peters had a
team-high seven rebounds.

LOU               7             8             16           15 – 46

HAR               21           15           17           15 – 68

LOUISBURG: Julian Margrave 8-18
0-0 18; Michael Waldron 4-5 1-1 8; Charlie Peters 4-5 0-0 8; Weston Guetterman
2-9 2-2 6; Michael Seuferling 1-3 0-0 2; Maverick Rockers 1-2 0-1 2; Ben
Guetterman 1-9 0-0 2. Totals: 20-59 3-4 46. 3-point field goals: 3, (Margrave
2, Waldron)

Louisburg sophomore Delaney Wright dives on the floor for a loose ball Wednesday during the Lady Cats’ win at Spring Hill High School.

SPRING HILL – Fresh off just its
second setback of the season, the Louisburg girls basketball team wanted to make
sure one loss didn’t turn into two.

Thanks to a big second half, the
Lady Cats prevented that from happening.

Louisburg scored 32 points in the second half, including a 17-point fourth quarter and pulled away from Spring Hill, 56-42, on Wednesday at Spring Hill High School. It was a big road victory the Lady Cats were looking for as they improved to 6-2 on the season and 3-1 in Frontier League play.

“Spring Hill is a good team and
they are well-coached,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “The stuff they had
prepared for us after they played a lot of games was really good. We always
talk a lot about how we will respond to adversity, and not just in basketball,
but in life as well.

“This was about them learning how
to deal with when things don’t go your way. You can either dust yourself off
and get up, or you can lay down. This group really took that to heart getting
ready for this game and really all three levels did that. They all had great
games and I was really proud of their effort.”

The Lady Cats faced a full-court pressure
defense the entire night, but they were able to make their way through it and
convert on the offensive end. If Louisburg didn’t score, it was able to draw a
foul as it had 33 attempts at the free-throw line.

“We handled it better and Spring
Hill has some athletes on their side as well,” Lowry said. “We did a pretty
good job of handling their pressure for the most part and we were aggressive
after we broke it. It wasn’t enough for us to just break it, we wanted to go
score as well.”

Score they did.

Louisburg took a 24-16 halftime
lead, but came out in the third quarter on a mission. The Lady Cats opened the
second half on a 12-2 run to build a 16-point lead thanks to 3-pointers from
Brooklyn Diederich and Megan Foote, along with a pair of baskets from Madilyn
Melton and free throws from Alyse Moore.

Spring Hill eventually whittled
Louisburg’s lead to five late in the third quarter, but the Lady Cats responded
again in the fourth. Moore scored nine of the team’s 17 points in the frame as
the Lady Cats built up its double digit lead and never looked back.

Moore led all scorers with 18 points and had five rebounds to go along with four steals. Melton also finished in double figures with 14 points and seven rebounds.

“We need them to be more for us
and for them to demand it more and I thought they did some good things for us,”
Lowry said of Moore and Melton. “We are going to look to them, but they have to
put themselves into a position where we can get them the basketball. They can
both be finishers and be tough to defend in the low post and they are getting
better at it.”

Diederich added eight points in the winning effort with a team-high five assists and five steals, while Foote also had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists to help lead the Lady Cats.

On defense, the Lady Cats were
active as they forced 30 turnovers and were able to score 20 points off those
Spring Hill mistakes. They also recorded 20 steals.

“I liked what I saw from some of the
younger kids,” Lowry said. “I thought Delaney Wright and Adyson Ross were
solid. The older girls are pretty good about their rotations, but I thought
those two were pretty active. Alyse is always all over the place.

“Overall, the girls were just
really together and they played for each other. They knew it was an important
one to bounce back from what happened against Frontenac. We learned a lot about
ourselves.”

Louisburg will try and make it
back-to-back league victories when it hosts Baldwin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in
a make-up contest. Junior varsity will play at 1 p.m.

It will be the start of what is a
busy two weeks for the Lady Cats as they will see plenty of tests come their
way.

“We are going to have gauntlet
coming up and it starts with Baldwin,” Lowry said. “Then we turn around and
play three tournament games the next week and then we play Monday, Tuesday and
Friday the following week. All of those games will be against great teams, but
this is where we want to be. It is the meat of the season and tournament week
is always a fun time.

“We are looking forward to Baldwin
as well with it being a girls only night and all the teams get to play in the
main gym. Our girls are looking forward to the challenge.”

LOU               10           14           15           17 – 56

SH                  7             9             17           9 – 42

LOUISBURG (6-2): Alyse Moore 5-9
8-14 18; Madilyn Melton 6-9 2-3 14; Brooklyn Diederich 3-9 0-2 8; Megan Foote
2-8 3-6 8; Delaney Wright 1-4 3-4 6; Haley Cain 0-4 2-4 2. Totals: 17-45 18-33
56. 3-point field goals: 4, (Diederich 2, Wright, Foote)

Junior Konnor Vohs puts up a shot during Louisburg’s tournament opener against Bishop Ward on Tuesday in Baldwin City.

BALDWIN CITY – The Louisburg boys
basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Baldwin
Invitational on Tuesday and the Wildcats put themselves in position to make a
run at the tournament title.

Louisburg, the No. 4 seed, opened
play against No. 5 Bishop Ward at Baldwin High School and the Wildcats left no
doubt in this one. Louisburg held Bishop Ward to nine first half points and
cruised to a 63-25 win over the Cyclones.

The win pushes the Wildcats’
record to 4-4 on the season as they advance to the tournament semifinals.

“Our focus was to play a complete
game,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We’ve played well in stretches,
but we’ve yet to be consistent for four quarters. I thought this was our first
game we were good on both sides of the ball for four quarters. Hopefully we can
build on that.”

The Wildcats started on the defensive end as they held Bishop Ward without point until 15 seconds left in the first quarter. They kept it going throughout the contest and the offense followed suit.

Louisburg took a 16-3 lead at the
end of the first quarter and then went on an 18-6 run in the second to go up
34-9 at halftime. The Wildcats added 23 more points in the third quarter and
all but sealed the win.

Sophomore Julian Margrave proved
to be a mismatch for Ward, especially inside, as he scored a game-high 17
points – 15 of which came in the first half – and was 8-for-11 from the field.
He also added a team-high eight rebounds.

“Julian had a nice game,” Pfannenstiel said. “He was aggressive
offensively and made some big plays. He can really get hot offensively, so hopefully
he can keep playing well.”

Everyone got involved in the
scoring as Pfannenstiel emptied his bench in the fourth quarter and all 12
players scored for the Wildcats.

Senior Michael Waldron was next
with nine points, while senior Garrett Rolofson had seven points, four steals
and three blocks. Junior point guard Weston Guetterman had a team-high seven
deflections to go along with five steals and four assists.

“It was good to get everyone a
good stretch of minutes of varsity action,” Pfannenstiel said. “Our kids
practice hard and compete for minutes every day in practice, so it was good to
see them all get an opportunity to play.”

The competition will get a lot
harder Friday when the Wildcats square off with the tournament’s No. 1 seed,
Harmon. Harmon is currently ranked No. 3 in Class 6A and beat Wellsville,
65-29. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m.

“Harmon is really
athletic and they are a deep team that returns almost everybody from last year,”
Pfannenstiel said. “They are the only remaining undefeated 6A team on the east
side of the state so we are going to have to be locked in and ready from start
to finish. Our kids are excited for the opportunity.”

LOU               16           18           23           6 – 63

BW                3             6             10           6 – 25

LOUISBURG (4-4): Julian Margrave
8-11 1-1 17; Michael Waldron 4-6 0-0 9; Garrett Rolofson 2-5 3-3 7; Ben
Guetterman 2-4 1-2 6; Michael Seuferling 2-5 0-0 4; Konnor Vohs 2-4 0-0 4;
Maverick Rockers 2-4 0-0 4; Charlie Peters 1-3 2-2 4; Dawson Barnes 1-2 0-0 3;
Weston Guetterman 1-3 0-0 2; Connor Koesser 1-3 0-0 2; Andy Hupp 0-2 1-3 1.
Totals: 26-52 8-11 63. 3-point field goals: 3, (B. Guetterman, Waldron, Barnes)

Junior Megan Foote goes up for a shot during a game earlier this season. The Louisburg girls fell short at home Saturday against Frontenac, 50-45.

The Louisburg and Frontenac girls
basketball teams came into Saturday’s game wanting to do the same thing – put pressure
on the opponent.

It worked on both ends as the two
teams combined to force more than 50 turnovers in what was a chaotic contest at
Louisburg High School. In the end, Frontenac made just a few more plays.

Despite a late run in the fourth
quarter, Louisburg came up short in a 50-45 loss to the Raiders and it is just
the second setback for the Lady Cats this season.

Louisburg (5-2) jumped out in
front to start the game as it took a 16-11 lead to begin the second quarter.
Unfortunately, the Lady Cats had problems scoring against the Frontenac defense
in the next two frames.

Frontenac held Louisburg to a
combined 12 points in the second and third quarters and took a 42-28 lead. The
Lady Cats didn’t give up as they scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Junior Madilyn Melton scored the first four points, junior Megan Foote made a 3-pointer late and junior Alyse Moore scored nine points down the stretch. Moore drove the lane, scored and was fouled to cut the Frontenac lead to two with just seconds left.

Louisburg, however, could get no
closer as Frontenac converted at the free-throw line in the final seconds to
secure the win.

Moore led the Lady Cats as she
recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to go along with a
team-high three steals. Melton also finished with a double-double as she had 13
points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

Junior Brooklyn Diederich was in double figures with 10 points and a team-high eight deflections. Senior Haley Cain added eight rebounds in the loss.

Louisburg will try and get back on
track tonight when it travels to Spring Hill for Frontier League matchup.
Tipoff is set for approximately 7:30 p.m.

LOU               16           5             7             17 – 45

FRON            11           13           18           8 – 50

LOUISBURG (5-2): Alyse Moore 6-14
4-7 16; Madilyn Melton 5-7 3-4 13; Brooklyn Diederich 4-16 0-0 10; Megan Foote
1-6 1-4 4; Delaney Wright 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 17-58 8-17 45. 3-point field
goals: 3, (Diederich 2, Foote)

Louisburg’s Weston Guetterman drives to the basket during a game earlier this season. The Wildcats lost a close game to Frontenac on Saturday, 59-57.

With less than eight minutes left
in the game, the Louisburg boys basketball team was well on its way to a third
straight victory – that was until Frontenac decided to make one final run of
its own.

Frontenac scored 11 straight
points to take the lead, and after Louisburg’s Ben Guetterman tied it up on a
3-pointer with 10 seconds left, the Raiders’ Hayden Pile scored the game-winner
with two seconds remaining and the Wildcats fell in a 59-57 heartbreaker
Saturday in Louisburg.

It was a back-and-forth affair as the two teams each made runs at each other, but the Raiders were able to deliver the final blow.

“Frontenac is a good team,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are long at every position, so we knew it would be tough inside.  Offensively we were good for 3 quarters, but we were really bad for the first 6 mins of the 4th which ended up being the difference in the game.

“I thought we executed really well the last two minutes and made some big plays to give us a chance.  Ben’s 3-point shot to tie it up was the biggest shot of the year for us so far. It’s too bad we couldn’t get a stop and play it out in overtime.”

Frontenac struck first as the Raiders took a 16-11 lead after the first quarter, but the Wildcats were able to find a groove offensively in the second and third quarters.

Louisburg (3-4) scored 21 points
in the second quarter and used a 13-4 run to end the first half to take a 32-29
halftime advantage. Michael Waldron and Ben Guetterman hit back-to-back
3-pointers, and a Weston Guetterman layup cut the Frontenac lead to two.

Ben Guetterman hit his second of
four 3-pointers on the night, while Julian Margrave knocked down a basket to
give the Wildcats the halftime advantage. Waldron and Ben Guetterman knocked
down two more 3-pointers in the third quarter to give the Wildcats a six-point
lead late.

Louisburg held a 48-40 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Frontenac went on an 11-0 run to go up 51-48. Louisburg cut the deficit to 57-54 after a pair of Weston Guetterman free throws with 26 seconds left.

After Frontenac missed two free
throws, the Wildcats had a chance to tie the game and Ben Guetterman came
through as he knocked down a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.

Frontenac called timeout, and then drove the ball down the floor where the Raiders found Pile under the basket for game-winner with two seconds left.

“I thought we played well,” Pfannenstiel said. “It really was a back and forth game all night. We built a little lead there in the third and early fourth, but couldn’t hang on. We’ve got to find ways to stay out of droughts. That hurt us against Bonner and hurt us again. 

“It was tough on our kids, but we have to learn from it and move on. We always stress how important every possession is, no matter if it’s in the first, second, third, or fourth quarter. They all add up to the end total and we were one short time time.”

Margrave led all scorers with a
game-high 17 points and led Louisburg with eight rebounds. Ben Guetterman added
14 points in the loss, while Weston Guetterman added 10 to go along with six
rebounds. Waldron added eight points and a team-high four steals.

The Wildcats shot 39 percent for
the game, including seven 3-pointers. They were also 10-for-10 from the
free-throw line.

Louisburg will try and get back on
track today when it travels to the Baldwin Invitational Tournament and will
face off with Bishop Ward in the first round. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.

LOU               11           21           14           11 – 57

FRON            16           13           11           19 – 59

LOUISBURG (3-4): Julian Margrave
7-15 2-2 17; Ben Guetterman 5-10 0-0 14; Weston Guetterman 3-12 4-4 10; Michael
Waldron 3-7 0-0 8; Garrett Rolofson 2-6 2-2 6; Konnor Vohs 0-1 2-2 2. Totals:
20-52 10-10 57. 3-point field goals: 7, (B. Guetterman 4, Waldron 2, Margrave)

Louisburg senior Michael Waldron drives to the basket against the Bonner Springs defense Tuesday at Louisburg High School.

For more than half of the game,
the Louisburg boys basketball team found itself in the driver’s seat Tuesday
against Bonner Springs.

The Wildcats had a comfortable
lead and were well on their way to back-to-back wins to start 2020. In the end,
it became a little more interesting than they would have liked.

Bonner Springs cut a 16-point Louisburg
lead to just one point with under a minute left, but senior Garrett Rolofson
knocked down two free throws with nine seconds left help secure a 46-43 win for
the Wildcats at Louisburg High School.

“It is never going to be easy,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “At times we looked really, really good and we were really focused – playing free and playing our style of basketball. Whatever it was in the second half, we just went into an offensive funk, started turning the ball over and just got real sloppy. We made it to where we were in a game again.

“Defensively, I thought we were
good all night and I thought it was one of our best games on defense,
especially in the first half. We stress that our defense has to be a constant
every night. When shots aren’t falling, and your defense is good, then you have
a chance. If we can consistently play defense then I think we are going to be
alright.”

Louisburg (3-3) went on an 11-4 run in the second quarter to build a 31-15 lead over Bonner Springs and was up 12 points at halftime. The Wildcats maintained that advantage going into the fourth quarter, but the Braves chipped away at the Louisburg lead while the Wildcats went cold offensively.

The Wildcats had several shots rim
out, while Bonner Springs used a 10-2 run to eventually cut the Louisburg lead
to 44-43 with 46 seconds left. After both teams missed front ends of a
one-in-one opportunity, Rolofson was fouled with nine seconds left and had an
opportunity to give Louisburg a little cushion.

The Louisburg senior calmly made
both opportunities and the Braves couldn’t find the bottom of the net in their
final trip down the floor.

“Nothing was really going in for
us,” Pfannenstiel said. “I think we had a layup and three free throws in the fourth
quarter and two of those were Rolo’s there at the end. We went in a huge
drought, and when you don’t see the ball go through the hoop, it can get kind
of nerve-racking.

“Rolo is a kid that has worked
really hard and he has earned his opportunity to take those shots. I couldn’t
think of anyone that I would rather have shooting those shots. I have supreme
confidence in what he has done and that was big for him to step up and knock
those down.”

Weston Guetterman led the Wildcats
with a team-high 13 points and three steals as he played all 32 minutes. Ben
Guetterman also scored in double figures with 12, while Julian Margrave had
seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The Wildcats did a lot of their scoring from behind the arc as they knocked down seven 3-pointers on the night, despite shooting just 36 percent from the field. Still, Louisburg played well offensively in the first half, which forced Bonner Springs to do some different things on defense.

“We moved the ball well, took care
of the ball and got them out of their zone,” Pfannenstiel said. “We were expecting
to see some zone going into the game, and it is something we haven’t seen a lot
of this year. We were hot enough that we were able to get them out of it and I
was very pleased with how we played in the first half. But we have to be able
to play well for four quarters if we are going to have a chance the rest of the
way. Our goal is to continue to build and that is what we are doing.”

Louisburg will try for its third
straight win Saturday when it hosts Frontenac in a make-up game from earlier in
the season. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

LOU               15           18           8             5 – 46

BON              11           10           8             14 – 43

LOUISBURG (3-3): Weston Guetterman
3-6 5-10 13; Ben Guetterman 5-13 0-1 12; Julian Margrave 3-6 0-0 7; Michael
Waldron 2-10 0-0 6; Garrett Rolofson 1-4 2-3 4; Maverick Rockers 1-2 0-0 2;
Connor Koesser 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 16-45 7-14 46. 3-point field goals: 7, (W.
Guetterman 2, B. Guetterman 2, Waldron 2, Margrave)

Junior Madilyn Melton drives past a Bonner Springs defender Tuesday during the Lady Cats’ 52-34 win over the Braves.

From the opening tip, it was
obvious that the night was going to belong to the Louisburg girls basketball
team.

On Tuesday against Bonner Springs,
the Lady Cats scored 14 of the first 16 points and used that start to roll the
Braves, 52-34, at Louisburg High School.

In what was one of their best shooting nights of the young season, mixed in with good defense, the No. 10-ranked Lady Cats were able to move their record to 5-1 on the season.

“Bonner is young, athletic and
their coach does a really good job with his girls, but I am also proud of the
way we responded against that,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “There were
times where it was really physical and I thought that we responded well to that
and I thought our confidence was good too. At some point, this group is going
to have to start believing what they can be this year.”

The Lady Cats certainly believed Tuesday
as they shot 44 percent from floor and knocked down a season-high eight
3-pointers, despite only going 4-for-14 from the free-throw line. Louisburg
came out strong as it opened the game on a 14-2 run.

Bonner Springs made a run back to
cut it to a two-point advantage to start the second quarter, but the Lady Cats
ended the first half on an 8-2 spurt to take a 25-17 halftime lead. The Braves
would get no closer.

Madilyn Melton led the Lady Cats
in scoring as the Louisburg junior finished with a team-high 12 points and
seven rebounds, to go along with six deflections and three steals. Juniors
Alyse Moore and Megan Foote added nine points in the win.

Senior Haley Cain came off the
bench to also score nine points, all of which came from behind the 3-point
line. Cain also had a team-high four assists.

“I think it is credit to the girls putting in the work,” Lowry said of his team’s offensive success. “They are staying after practice and coming in on the weekends on their own and shooting. This is a group that can be a good shooting team.

“I really thought Haley came off
the bench and gave us a nice spark and it was great leadership from her. I am
really proud of what she did.”

Louisburg also shined defensively
at times as it shut down Bonner Springs’ inside game and forced 26 turnovers
thanks to the Lady Cats’ aggressive zone defense. Those turnovers turned into
25 points for the Lady Cats as they made it difficult for the Braves.

“We didn’t slow them down much
inside at the beginning, but we made some adjustments and that really helped,”
Lowry said. “I have to give credit to the girls because they responded to the
adjustments what we needed to make. They were communicating with each other and
talking on defense. That really was the difference. I made some adjustments,
but it was them talking that was the biggest part of that.”

The schedule will get a lot
tougher for the Lady Cats beginning tomorrow. It will be a battle of ranked
teams as No. 10 Louisburg hosts No. 4 Baldwin (7-1) at 6 p.m. Friday in a
Frontier League matchup.

Louisburg will then turnaround
Saturday to host Frontenac in a makeup contest. Tipoff for that game is set for
4:30 p.m.

“We want to be 6-1 after Friday
and we have to play a good Baldwin team on our home floor,” Lowry said. “We are
excited to play that game and that is the mentality that this group has right
now.

“Baldwin is a fantastic team from
coaching to players, and top to bottom they have such a great program. It is
going to be extremely hard and we are going to have to prepare with that in
mind. We can’t even think about Saturday’s game against Frontenac and we have
to be all in with Baldwin on Friday.”

LOU               17           8             19           8 – 52

BON              12           5             12           5 – 34

LOUISBURG (5-1): Madilyn Melton
5-8 2-6 12; Haley Cain 3-7 0-0 9; Alyse Moore 3-7 1-2 9; Megan Foote 4-7 0-2 9;
Delaney Wright 2-4 0-2 5; Brooklyn Diederich 2-10 0-0 5; Sydni Keagle 1-1 0-0
2; Jordan Mynsted 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 20-46 4-14 52. 3-point field goals: 8,
(Cain 3, Moore 2, Wright, Diederich, Foote)

Freshman guard Adyson Ross drives to the basket during the Lady Cats’ road game Tuesday against Turner.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In its first
game of the new year, the Louisburg girls basketball team couldn’t have asked
for a better start to 2020.

The Lady Cats used a stingy
defense and a deep bench to help them to a 72-18 victory over Turner on Tuesday
at Turner High School. The win moves Louisburg’s record to 4-1 on the year as
it currently holds the No. 10 ranking in Class 4A.

“We worked hard over break and
everyone is in the same boat,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “You have to
get back to where you were before break and it is crazy. You have to get that
mentality back and we focused on toughness drills, worked on a lot of defensive
stuff and I thought we took care of business. Offensively we have some stuff to
clean up, but overall it was a good night.”

Defensively, the Lady Cats shined
as they used their 1-3-1 pressure defense to force several Turner turnovers,
which led to easy baskets in transition. Louisburg racked up 47 points in the first
half and held the Golden Bears to just nine.

Junior Brooklyn Diederich had a
big scoring night for the Lady Cats with a game-high 15 points, including three
3-pointers. Juniors Alyse Moore and Madilyn Melton also finished in double
figures with 12 points and sophomores Delaney Wright and Jordan Mynsted added
nine.

Lowry shuffled five players in and
out of the game at different times throughout the contest, which allowed
several younger players to see varsity minutes. Freshman guards Brianne
Kuhlman, Adyson Ross and Emma Lohse all saw playing time and each found the
scoring column.

“It was nice to be able to rotate
a lot of kids,” Lowry said. “I thought the freshmen, like Adyson, Brianne and
Emma, all did a real nice job tonight. It is these kinds of situations where we
can get them some experience that will help them down the road past this
season. For it being our first game out of break, and being on the road, I
think it was good for us.”

The schedule will get quite a bit
tougher for the Lady Cats and it starts tonight when they travel to No. 7
Eudora. The Cardinals have been going through some transition as their head
coach, Richard Ebel, was relieved of his duties before the holiday break and
they currently have a new coaching staff.

Despite the changes, the Lady Cats
know it will be a difficult challenge on the road in Frontier League play.

“Eudora is fantastic and they have
one of the best point guards around,” Lowry said. “They are dealing with some
stuff right now, but I think they are going to be ready to play. It will be
tough for them, but I know they will be ready.

“We have a tough four-game stretch
coming up too. We have Eudora, but then we get three games at home, with Bonner
Springs, Baldwin and Frontenac and Baldwin and Frontenac are back-to-back
nights. It is a gauntlet, but that is the time of year we are in and it is time
to play. We have 80 percent of our games left to play and 60 percent of our
practices are done. It is about improving and getting better and we are going
to be a different team between now and the end of the season. We have a lot of
growth left to happen.”

LOU               20           27           15           10 – 72

TUR               5             4             4             5 – 18

LOUISBURG (4-1): Brooklyn
Diederich 15, Alyse Moore 12, Madilyn Melton 12, Delaney Wright 9, Jordan
Mynsted 9, Brianne Kuhlman 6, Adyson Ross 5, Megan Foote 2, Emma Lohse 2.
Totals: 27 12-22 72. 3-point field goals: 6, (Diederich 3, Wright 2, Ross)

Louisburg senior Garrett Rolofson goes up for a basket during the Wildcats’ 64-52 win Tuesday over Turner. Rolofson finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Louisburg
opened Tuesday’s road contest against Turner with 10 straight points, only to
see the Golden Bears respond with a big run of their own and put the Wildcats
in hole.

The Wildcats ended the game just
like they started – only bigger.

Louisburg dominated the fourth
quarter and rallied from an eight-point deficit to get a 64-52 victory over
Turner and win in convincing fashion. The Wildcats outscored the Golden Bears
21-5 in the final frame thanks to a different level of intensity.

“It was a great win for our guys,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We got into a funk there for a while after we had such a hot start. With it being the first game after break, you just never know what you are going to get on our end. It has been awhile since we have played, but for us to battle back was great to see and the energy in the fourth quarter was really, really good.”

A lot of that energy came from junior
Ben Guetterman and senior Garrett Rolofson, who both helped the Wildcats
dominate the glass in the fourth quarter, which led to a lot of second chance
points.

Guetterman, one of the team’s
starting guards, finished with a game-high 21 points and also added 16 rebounds
to help spark the Wildcats. Rolofson nearly had a double-double himself as he
added 14 points and nine boards. Both players had seven offensive rebounds on
the night and kept a lot of plays alive.

“Ben played really well and Rolo
played really tough inside,” Pfannenstiel said. “If those guys can continue
that, and then we can piece it together with the other guys, then we should be
alright.

“Ben is going to realize that he
can really score when he hits the offensive glass and he doesn’t just have to
hit from the outside. He has the ability to attack on the offensive rebounds
and get a lot of garbage points. Rolo did a really good job with that too. Our
energy was really good in the fourth quarter, and if we can do that for four
quarters, then we can do this any night out.”

Louisburg (2-3) was without one of
its leading scorers in Julian Margrave, who was out with an illness. Other
players had to fill in and the Wildcats were able to get good production from
their bench.

Sophomore Michael Seuferling saw
his first varsity action of the season and provided the Wildcats with some key
minutes as he finished with seven points. Junior Konnor Vohs also added six in
the win, including a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to help jump start the
Wildcats’ run.

Point guard Weston Guetterman
added six points, but also finished with a team-high seven assists and also had
six rebounds.

“We had a couple guys come off the
bench and really gave us some good minutes there in crunch time,” Pfannenstiel
said. “I thought Michael came in and played really well. We had to have some
guys step up with Julian out, so we needed to have some guys score for us. Vohs,
Seuferling and those guys came in and brought good energy and that is what we
needed.”

The Wildcats opened the game on a
10-0 run, but Turner responded quickly as it went on a 17-2 spurt of its own to
take a five-point lead going into the second quarter.

Turner extended its lead to 10
points midway through the second quarter and later had an eight-point lead in the
third, before the Wildcats started to chip away.

Seuferling hit a jumper to cut the Turner lead to one early in the fourth quarter and then the Wildcat defense forced three straight turnovers. Louisburg took advantage as Ben Guetterman and Rolofson both scored on offensive rebounds to give the Wildcats the lead and then Vohs answered with a 3-pointer to put Louisburg up six.

Louisburg didn’t let up as it pulled away from the Bears the rest of the way and recorded its second win on the season.

“We switched to zone for a little bit
and I think that messed with them for a while,” Pfannenstiel said. “They missed
some shots and we were able to rebound out of it. I think we figured out pretty
quick that we need to get going. We played with some great energy in the
fourth.”

The Wildcats will try for
back-to-back wins Friday when they travel to Eudora in Frontier League action.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

“Eudora is always very well
coached,” Pfannenstiel said. “They are a great program and have disciplined
players. It is good to go into league play with a win and we have a lot of games
coming up here. It will be a grind and we have a lot to do. Hopefully we can
continue to build some momentum.”

LOU               12           16           15           21 – 64

TUR               16           15           16           5 – 52

LOUISBURG (2-3): Ben Guetterman 9-17
1-1 21; Garrett Rolofson 5-12 4-6 14; Michael Seuferling 2-5 1-1 7; Weston
Guetterman 1-11 4-6 6; Konnor Vohs 2-3 1-2 6; Michael Waldron 2-4 0-0 5;
Charlie Peters 0-1 3-4 3; Maverick Rockers 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 22-57 15-23 64.
3-point field goals: 5, (B. Guetterman 2, Seuferling, Vohs, Waldron)

Louisburg senior Michael Waldron stretches out for a rebound Friday during the Wildcats’ home contest against Piper.

For two-and-a-half quarters Friday,
the Louisburg boys basketball team had the upper-hand on the defending state
champion and No. 1 team in Class 4A.

The Wildcats had Piper where they
wanted them, but foul trouble and a few turnovers derailed their upset hopes as
the Wildcats fell to the Pirates, 68-61, in the final game of 2019.

Despite the loss, the fact that
Louisburg was able to hang with the state’s No. 1 team for much of the game was
something the Wildcats hope to use as a momentum builder over the holiday
break.

“It gives our kids confidence,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We played with the defending state champs and the No. 1 team in the state that has played some good teams already. Our kids have to be very confident that we can play with, and beat anybody. That is type of team we will have to play in sub-state and there are some very talented teams at the top. We are going to have to execute a game plan like we did against Piper.”

That game plan was to force the
Pirates to pull up for jumpers and keep them out of transition. Louisburg was
able to do that for the most part as Piper was out of rhythm offensively and
the Wildcats were able to take a halftime lead.

The Wildcats (1-3) extended that
lead to seven points midway through the third quarter and all the momentum was in
their favor.

“We played tough,” Pfannenstiel
said. “Our kids played with such good energy, we created a good environment and
our students were really good. We basically went punch for punch with them, and
defensively, this was our best game of the year by far against a really dynamic
offensive team. They can really handle the ball and they have shooters
everywhere.

“That is a good team that we
played. To make them settle for pull-up jumpers, which was kind of our game
plan, and I thought our kids did a really good job of making them play good
help-side defense, packing the lane and making good close outs. It was a lot of
fun out there.”

The Wildcats got a bulk of their
scoring from three different players as junior point guard Weston Guetterman
finished with a team-high 20 points. Sophomore Julian Margrave finished with a
double-double as he had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Ben Guetterman
added 17 points and seven rebounds.

Louisburg had to play with some
adversity early in the third quarter as Weston Guetterman had to sit with four
fouls, which is around the same time Piper went on a big run to take the lead
back.

Piper went on a 16-4 run to end
the third quarter as the Pirates were able to get out in transition and knock
down a couple three-pointers.

“It was definitely tough not
having him out there because he is that important to our team,” Pfannenstiel
said of Weston. “He is very comfortable with the ball in his hands and does a
good job running the offense. He just needs to be a little smarter when it
comes to being more aggressive. Maverick (Rockers) came in and did a good job
handling the ball against very good defenders. We took care of the ball for the
most part against some pretty talented defenders.

“Weston and Julian have been
pretty consistent with what they have gotten every night so far this year and
we need to find that third scorer and Ben can provide that. (Michael) Waldron
can as well, but I think we all played to our strengths. We don’t need everyone
to go off for 18 necessarily, even though that would be nice, but everyone
knows their role offensively and I thought our kids played very well.”

Piper extended its lead to 12
points midway through the fourth quarter. Weston Guetterman scored five
straight points to cut the lead to seven, but it would be as close as the
Wildcats could get.

The Wildcats will try and bounce
back in the new year when they travel to Turner on Jan. 7.

LOU               13           13           14           21 – 61

PIP                 11           14           24           19 – 68

LOUISBURG (1-3): Weston Guetterman
5-8 8-8 20; Ben Guetterman 5-14 5-9 17; Julian Margrave 7-12 2-3 16; Michael
Waldron 2-6 1-2 6; Garrett Rolofson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 20-44 16-22 61. 3-point
field goals: 5, (W. Guetterman 2, B. Guetterman 2, Waldron 1)