Louisburg head girls basketball coach Shawn Lowry resigned Monday, effective immediately. Lowry was currently in his seventh season with the Lady Cats.
The Louisburg sidelines will look
a little different for the rest of the Lady Cats’ basketball season.
In a move that caught some
off-guard yesterday, Louisburg High School girls basketball coach Shawn Lowry
turned in his resignation, effective immediately.
Lowry coached his final game last Saturday
at the Top Gun Tournament in Wellsville and the Lady Cats were 6-6 through the
first 12 games before he stepped down Monday.
“I want to thank the great people that worked with me as assistant
coaches, the other LHS coaches during my tenure and all the basketball players
that were part of the Lady Cats basketball program for their commitment,
support and love,” Lowry said. “Most importantly, I want to thank my wife, Kristine,
and my children, Kirstin, Garrett and Kody, for understanding my passion and
for everything they sacrificed while I was giving of myself to other people’s
daughters.”
Lowry was currently in his seventh season as the Louisburg girls head coach after taking over the program in 2013. He also spent a year as an assistant on the Lady Cat bench, along with a year as an assistant on the boys team.
According to LHS activities director Scott Hinkle, junior
varsity coach Leanna Willer will serve as the interim head coach for the rest
of the season. Freshman coach Nick Chapman will continue to help with freshman
and junior varsity, while Hinkle looks for a temporary hire to fill the vacant
spot.
Players were told of Lowry’s resignation Monday afternoon before
the team left for their game in Eudora.
The Lady Cats started the year with a 6-2 record and a spot in
the state rankings, but problems arose to where Lowry felt he could no longer
do the job to the best of his ability.
“During the last several weeks, my family and I have had to
endure a great deal personally related to me coaching basketball,” Lowry said. “I
believed that I could continue to do so because I put the players and their
best interest above all else. However, I came to realize that no matter how
hard I worked, how much I cared about these kids or what I did to make this the
best possible experience for these young ladies, I was in a situation that
would not only be detrimental to these efforts, but actually foster the
opposite.
“I have always taken a great deal of pride in the way I
represent myself, my family and those young people that I had the privilege to
work with. From growing up in rural Kansas to running large companies, I
learned early and have refused to compromise on those core values that are the
fabric of who I am and that I have strived to teach.”
LHS administration could not comment on the coaching change, as
it is a personnel matter. The Lady Cats are back in action tonight when they
host Paola.
Louisburg girls lose to Hayden in final game of Top Gun tourney
Louisburg junior Alyse Moore pulls down a rebound during a game at Wellsville earlier last week. Moore pulled down a team-high 16 rebounds in a loss to Hayden on Saturday.
WELLSVILLE – When it was all said
and done, the end result of the Top Gun Tournament was not what the Louisburg
girls basketball team was hoping for.
After an overtime loss in the first
round, and then a loss to Spring Hill in the consolation semifinals, Louisburg
had to face a tough Topeka-Hayden team in its final game Saturday in
Wellsville.
The Lady Cats took a nine-point
lead at halftime, but Hayden used a second half rally to pull away for a 44-38
victory over Louisburg.
The game was tied at 10-all going
into the second quarter, but Louisburg (6-6) had a big second quarter to take
the halftime lead. The Lady Cats outscored Hayden 14-5 before the break and
took a 24-15 advantage.
It didn’t stay that way as Hayden
cut into the Lady Cat lead in the third quarter, then early in the fourth,
Hayden took it back for good as it outscored Louisburg 15-7 in the final frame
to pull away.
Junior Alyse Moore was all over
the floor for the Lady Cats as she recorded a double-double to lead her team.
Moore had 12 points to go along with 16 rebounds and three steals.
Another junior, Madilyn Melton,
almost nearly had a double-double herself as she had 11 points and eight
rebounds. Junior Brooklyn Diederich had six points and a team-high seven steals
and seven deflections.
Neither team was able to get in a
rhythm offensively as both Louisburg and Hayden shot 27 percent from the field,
but Hayden was able to take advantage of some Louisburg mistakes. The Lady Cats
gave up 18 points on turnovers, which turned out to be one of the differences
in the game.
Louisburg will try and stop its four-game
losing streak tonight when it travels to Eudora in a makeup game from earlier
in the year. Varsity tipoff is scheduled for around 7:30 p.m.
It is the first of another
three-game week for the Lady Cats. They will host Paola tomorrow and then
travel to Ottawa on Friday to finish out the week.
Just a week earlier, Louisburg
went on the road and handed Spring Hill a double-digit loss.
On Thursday in the consolation
semifinals of the Top Gun Tournament, Spring Hill returned the favor.
Louisburg scored 10 points in the first
half and struggled to overcome its slow start in a 42-25 loss to the Broncos.
Spring Hill jumped out to a 22-10 halftime lead and never looked back.
Alyse Moore led the Lady Cats in
scoring with eight points, while Brooklyn Diederich added five in the loss.
Megan Foote pulled down a team-high six rebounds to go along with four steals.
Louisburg sophomore Maverick Rockers goes up for a shot Monday during the Wildcats’ game at Eudora. The Wildcats fell 65-58.
EUDORA – The Louisburg boys
basketball team was hoping to build off its momentum from the Baldwin
Invitational when the Wildcats traveled to Eudora on Monday for a make-up
contest.
The Wildcats just didn’t have
enough to keep up with the Cardinals.
Despite having a halftime lead,
Louisburg scored just seven points in the third quarter, which led to a 65-58
loss to Eudora.
“Hats off to Eudora, I thought
they played a solid game,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They were
good defensively and we knew that coming in. They are a very disciplined team
and I think offensively that was one of their better nights from what I can
tell.
“We were kind of rolling there for
a while, but a lot of that was scoring inside, but we weren’t hitting anything
from the outside. We have to understand that we can’t continue to fire up shots
that aren’t in rhythm because a game can get away from us pretty quick and we just
have to do a better job with that.”
Eudora made things difficult on
the Wildcat defense as the Cardinals drove toward the basket and scored 32
points in the paint. That also allowed Eudora to knock down seven 3-pointers to
create a balanced attack.
“I think our guys were doing a
pretty good job of keeping them out of the paint, but our rotations were not
where they need to be,” Pfannenstiel said. “They were driving baseline and our
help defense was ok, but we were a little slow either to prevent the offensive
rebound or that little dump pass to the middle. We will be able to see that on
film and get that corrected. We just weren’t clicking on all cylinders.”
Louisburg (5-6) found itself down
17-15 at the end of the first quarter and Eudora extended that lead to 28-22
midway through the second. The Wildcats were able to make a run before halftime
and took the lead.
The Wildcats went on a 10-0 spurt to end the first half thanks to five straight points from Weston Guetterman, a basket from Garrett Rolofson and a 3-pointer from Maverick Rockers. Guetterman led the charge most of the night for Louisburg as he finished with 16 points, seven assists and played the entire game.
“Weston definitely played with the
most confidence that I have seen him play with all year,” Pfannenstiel said. “He
kind of took charge and I thought he was really good. That is what he has to be
for us. He has the ball in his hands a lot, and he creates a lot for us, so
hopefully he can build on this game.”
Eudora went on a run of its own to
start the third quarter as it went on a 12-2 spurt to grab a five-point lead
going into the fourth. The Cardinals would go on to extend the lead to 11 late
in the game and the Wildcats couldn’t recover.
Sophomore Julian Margrave had
another big game for the Wildcats as he finished with a team-high 21 points and
had six rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore Maverick Rockers came off the bench
to score nine points, while junior Ben Guetterman pulled down a team-high nine
rebounds.
Louisburg will try and bounce back
tonight when it travels to Spring Hill in a Frontier League matchup. Tipoff is
set for 7:30 p.m.
Louisburg junior Megan Foote puts up a floater in the lane Tuesday during the Lady Cats’ game with Anderson County at Wellsville High School.
WELLSVILLE – Louisburg didn’t have
much left in the tank. The same could also be said for Anderson County.
The two teams beat each other up for 32 minutes, then the game went into overtime as both squads played physical in the first round of the Top Gun Tournament on Tuesday in Wellsville.
Whether it was diving for loose balls,
tough defense or fighting for rebounds, Louisburg and Anderson County left it
all on the court. Unfortunately for the Lady Cats, Anderson County made just
one more play.
The Bulldogs made a free throw with
8 seconds left to break the tie and Louisburg’s last second shot fell short as
the Lady Cats fell 70-69. The loss sends Louisburg to the consolations
semifinals where it will face off with Spring Hill at 5 p.m. today in
Wellsville.
It was a revenge win of sorts for
Anderson County after they Lady Cats defeated them in Louisburg back in
December.
Louisburg (6-4) appeared well on
their way to a victory early on as the Lady Cats jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but
Anderson County battled back and eventually took a 33-29 lead at halftime.
“Anderson County was tough and
physical like that the first time,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “They
have improved and their record shows they have been playing well. I think maybe
when we got out to that early lead, we had some mentality stuff set in that probably
shouldn’t set in. The next thing you know we are in a game again and it was
back and forth the whole way. We had opportunities to win and had shots at the
rim that didn’t go in, but that is the way it goes sometimes.”
The Bulldogs built an eight-point
lead midway through the third quarter, but the Lady Cats were able to rally and
eventually take the lead. Junior Megan Foote connected on four free throws and
knocked down a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in the third to bring the Lady
Cats within one.
Right before the end of the
quarter, Foote recorded a steal and passed it down the floor to Madilyn Melton
and she laid it in for a 48-47 lead.
Anderson County took the lead back
again, but Foote put together another run as she scored seven points late in
the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer to tie the game at 62 with 1 minute
and 45 seconds left in the game. Foote then had a layup on the team’s next
possession and the Lady Cats went up 64-62 with 52 seconds remaining.
Junior Madilyn Melton lays the ball up for two points Tuesday against Anderson County.
The Bulldogs eventually tied the game on a basket with 26 seconds left and the two teams went into overtime.
In the extra period, Melton and junior
Alyse Moore both scored to give Louisburg an early lead. However, with the game
tied with 8 seconds left, Louisburg was called for a foul after both teams dove
for a loose ball.
That sent Anderson County’s Cali
Foltz to the line as she made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Bulldogs the lead
for good.
“I thought we started out good,
but here is what we have to get away from,” Lowry said. “It can’t be me
challenging the kids and then they get tough. They are going to have to
collectively get together on that. In the second half, the girls just played
their tails off. Every single one of them played their tails off. Both teams
had zero gas left and it was just about taking shots. It was a fun overtime
high school game, but obviously wish we could have gotten the win there.”
Melton led the Lady Cats in
scoring with 22 points and had eight rebounds and five steals. Moore came close
to a triple-double as she tallied 21 points, 13 rebounds and she had seven
steals. She had 16 of those 21 points in the first half.
Foote finished the game with 15
points and five steals, while Brooklyn Diederich and Melton both led the team
with 10 deflections.
Louisburg had a hard time slowing
down Anderson County’s inside-outside combo of Rayna Jasper and Foltz. Jasper
had a game-high 28 points and was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, while
Foltz finished with 23 points.
Sophomore Delaney Wright found herself on Jasper at the top of the Lady Cats’ zone defense and pressured her all night as Wright played the entire four quarters and overtime.
“I told Delaney if that girl doesn’t
come off the floor then you are not coming off the floor,” Lowry said. “If you
are tired, then she is going to be tired too and I think she stayed on the
floor the entire time. I thought we played with toughness and pride out there,
but it just didn’t come down to one shot, it came down to a lot of little
things.”
Louisburg will try and bounce back
today against Spring Hill and then will play for either fifth or seventh-place
Saturday against Topeka-Hayden or Lansing.
Louisburg junior Brooklyn Diederich puts up a 3-pointer during Saturday’s home contest against Baldwin.
It was a battle of ranked teams
Saturday at Louisburg High School as No. 10 Louisburg had an opportunity to
knock off No. 4 Baldwin.
Unfortunately for the Lady Cats,
the game didn’t go as they would have hoped.
Baldwin used a big second quarter
to jump out large lead and the Lady Cats weren’t able to recover in a 67-46
loss to the Bulldogs.
“There were times we competed with good energy and effort, but we didn’t execute as well as we could have,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “You have to credit Baldwin for their defensive pressure and the toughness they played with.”
Louisburg
(6-3) got off to a good start as it took an 11-8 lead early as junior Madilyn
Melton scored the team’s first six points, followed by a 3-pointer from
Brooklyn Diederich and a basket from Megan Foote.
From there, Baldwin was able to take over as it went on an 11-2 run to go up six and then expanded its lead to 33-20 at halftime. The Bulldogs grew their lead to 18 points at the end of the third quarter.
Baldwin
made it tough for Louisburg to defend as the Bulldogs knocked down nine
3-pointers and also used their size inside to score 32 points in the paint.
“Baldwin
definitely shot the ball well and complimented that with some strong inside
play.” Lowry said. “It challenged us with several defensive rotations and also
caused us issues with defending their penetration.”
Melton
found a lot of success for the Lady Cats as she scored a team-high 16 points to
go along with a team-high eight rebounds and three blocks. Sophomore Jordan
Mynsted was next in scoring with seven points and Diederich finished with six.
Louisburg
will try and bounce back today when it travels to Wellsville for the Top Gun
Tournament. The Lady Cats will tip off at 6:30 p.m. against Anderson County and
will also play Thursday and Friday nights.
“Our kids
are staying the course and working hard in practice to prepare for the games
ahead,” Lowry said. “Games like this provide us good experience and lessons for
the stretch run that is ahead of us.”
Wildcats rally to beat No. 1 Seabury for third place at Baldwin
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.
Junior Ben Guetterman puts up a runner in the lane Saturday against Bishop Seabury.
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.
Members of the Louisburg basketball are (front row, from left) Maverick Rockers, Michael Seuferling, Ben Guetterman, Weston Guetterman, Michael Waldron, Isaac Guetterman (Back row) Andy Hupp, Konnor Vohs, Connor Koesser, Garrett Rolofson, Charlie Peters and Julian Margrave.
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.
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)
Lady Cats bounce back with league win at Spring Hill
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.
Louisburg junior Alyse Moore puts up a shot over two Spring Hill defenders on Wednesday.
“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.”
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.
Sophomore Julian Margrave lays the ball in for two of his game-high 17 points Tuesday against Bishop Ward.
“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.”
Louisburg girls lose defensive battle to Frontenac
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.
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.
