Louisburg junior Madden Rutherford puts up a shot over an Ottawa defender Friday during the Wildcats’ homecoming game.

The Louisburg boys basketball team
needed to play one of its better games of the season Friday when it hosted
state-ranked Ottawa for homecoming.

Ottawa was ranked No. 6 in Class
4A coming into the game and the Wildcats had a big challenge on their hands. As
it turned out, Louisburg was more than ready for the Cyclones.

The Wildcats stayed within striking distance for much of the game, and even trailed by just three points with under two minutes left, but couldn’t get that key shot to go down in a 61-49 loss.

“I was definitely proud with the way
our guys fought and battled and pretty good Ottawa team,” Louisburg coach Ty
Pfannenstiel said. “This was a game we can definitely learn things from and get
better. It seemed like we just couldn’t get that big shot to fall to get the
lead there late, and I know some of the guys are frustrated, but we did some
good things out there.”

Louisburg (7-8) found itself down
six points at the end of the first quarter and the Wildcats lit it up from behind
the arch in the second quarter to cut into the Cyclone lead even more.
Louisburg knocked down four 3-pointers in the frame, including three from
Michael Waldron, who finished with a team-high nine points.

Freshman Julian Margrave also came off the bench to knock down a 3-pointer and senior Noah Hill had a couple big makes under the basket.

“Michael had a really good game
for us and probably one of his best ones,” Pfannenstiel said. “He had a really
great night shooting the ball and did some nice things. Michael, along with Ben
Guetterman, and now Julian, have given us some consistent perimeter shooting
and hopefully some others will be able to step up in that area as well.”

The Wildcats, which trailed 29-24
at halftime, hung around in the second half and threatened the Cyclones late in
the game when senior Brayden Gage knocked down a 3-pointer with 1 minute and 45
seconds left in the game to cut the Ottawa lead to 3.

Louisburg had a chance to tie the game following that possession, but couldn’t get the shots to fall. The Wildcats got good opportunities most of the night thanks to a patient offense.

“We have been much more patient
when we get into an offensive set and that is something that we needed to work
on because sometimes we have gotten out of control,” Pfannenstiel said. “But it
was almost to a fault that we didn’t run enough. Ottawa is kind of a big,
lumbering team and we should have gotten more run outs and we should have
emphasized it more. If we can get back to pushing the ball a little more, it
will add a dimension to our team.”

Defense was another reason the
Wildcats were able to hang around as they switched from a zone defense to a
man, which gave the Cyclones a different look. Louisburg was able to force 14
Ottawa turnovers, which led to some run outs, but the Wildcats missed a few easy
attempts in the first half.

“We got down early and they had a
great plan against our 1-3-1 and they did some things that we haven’t seen yet,”
Pfannenstiel said. “They were able to throw it over the top and find a weakness
in that zone. I was just proud of the way we battled back and we were right
there. I think we missed three easy layups in the first half and you can’t do
that stuff. That would have been huge going into halftime with a lead.

“I was a little worried at
halftime because our energy didn’t seem right, but we picked it up in the
second half we were more aggressive playing man and we were concerned about how
effective we would be in it. I think we proved that we can be confident in it.”

Senior Dylan DeShazer tied Waldron
with a team-best nine points, while Hill and senior Kohl Vogel added eight
points each in the loss.

Louisburg returns to action Friday
for its final regular season road game when it travels to Spring Hill. Tipoff
has been moved up to 6:45 p.m.

LOU               8             16           14           11 – 49

OTT               14           15           15           17 – 61

LOUISBURG (7-8): Dylan DeShazer 4
1-1 9; Michael Waldron 3 0-0 9; Kohl Vogel 3 0-0 8; Noah Hill 3 2-3 8; Julian
Margrave 2 0-0 5; Madden Rutherford 2 0-0 4; Ben Guetterman 1 1-1 3; Brayden
Gage 1 0-0 3. Totals: 19 4-5 49. 3-point field goals: 7, (Waldron 3, Vogel 2,
Gage, Margrave)

LOUISBURG RALLIES TO BEAT BALDWIN

For more than half of the game,
the Louisburg boys basketball team was trying to play catch-up after a bad
start against Baldwin last Thursday.

The Wildcats gave up 21 points in the first quarter and were in a big hole early. Louisburg didn’t let that bad start get them down as the Wildcats battled back to take the lead in the third quarter and eventually pulled away for a 71-61 win in Baldwin City.

Louisburg trailed 21-11 after the
first quarter, but the Wildcat offense picked up as it scored 25 points in the
second and trailed by just four at halftime.

It was the Wildcat defense that
rose to the occasion in the second half as it held Baldwin to just five points
in the third quarter and forced 19 turnovers for the game. Louisburg turned
those 19 turnovers into 24 points, which was key in its comeback.

Kohl Vogel led the Wildcats in
scoring with 14 points and the Louisburg senior also finished with five
assists. Sophomore Weston Guetterman and senior Dylan DeShazer each finished in
double figures with 11, while DeShazer also had a team-high seven rebounds.

Senior guard Brayden Gage also had
a strong game with nine points and six assists. Fellow senior Noah Hill
finished the game with seven points, five rebounds and five assists as nine
different Wildcats scored in the game.

LOU               11           25           14           21 – 71

BAL                21           19           5             16 – 61

LOUISBURG: Kohl Vogel 5-12 4-6 14;
Weston Guetterman 4-9 2-3 11; Dylan DeShazer 4-7 3-3 11; Brayden Gage 2-5 4-9
9; Ben Guetterman 2-6 2-2 10; Noah Hill 3-6 1-3 7; Michael Waldron 2-2 0-0 5;
Julian Margrave 2-2 0-0 4; Madden Rutherford 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 25-54 16-26 71.
3-point field goals: 5, (B. Guetterman 2, W. Guetterman, Gage, Waldron)

Louisburg sophomores Madilyn Melton (left) and Alyse Moore team up to trap an Ottawa player Friday during the Lady Cats’ 54-16 win over the Cyclones.

It had been a rough couple of
weeks for the Louisburg girls basketball team as the Lady Cats had lost five of
their last six games going into Friday’s homecoming game with Ottawa.

As it turned out, a home game was
just what the Lady Cats needed.

Louisburg jumped on Ottawa from
the start behind a strong defensive effort and rolled to a 54-16 win over the
Cyclones. The Lady Cats forced 34 Ottawa turnovers, several of which, turned
into easy baskets on the other end.

“Anytime you can hold a team to 16 points for the game, that is a good defensive effort,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “Sure we still had some breakdowns, but that is a good defensive effort.

“Ottawa has some young players
that are going to be around for the next 2-3 years and are going to be good
basketball players. It is part of their learning process now, kind of like some
of the stuff we have been through.”

The Lady Cats (7-8) also had one of their better games offensively as they shot 45 percent from the field and held Ottawa to just 16 percent from the field. Louisburg was also able to find success from the outside with six 3-pointers.

Louisburg made a statement early
as it outscored Ottawa 17-5 in the first quarter and never looked back.

“Defense is creating offense for us
and that was a big part of our success,” Lowry said. “We were also able to hit
some nice shots on the perimeter and I think we are getting more confidence
there. We did a lot of shooting in practice and I think our free throw shooting
improved as well.”

Sophomore Brooklyn Diederich had a
strong game offensively as she finished with a team-high 14 points, including a
pair of 3-pointers. Defensively, she was also all over the floor and led the
team with five deflections and three steals.

Senior Carson Buffington also
scored in double figures with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Sophomore Madilyn Melton also added 10 points and finished with five
deflections and two steals on defense.

Louisburg will try for some
revenge on Friday when it competes in its final road game of the season against
Spring Hill and the Lady Cats will have some extra practice time to get ready.
Earlier in the season, the Lady Cats watched Spring Hill comeback from an
18-point deficit to steal a win and Louisburg is hoping to do the same this
time around.

“It is an interesting time of the
season, but it gives us a chance to work on some fundamental stuff and then get
ready to play our last away game of the season against Spring Hill,” Lowry
said. “The girls like playing Spring Hill and they have a lot of friends on
that team and they are excited to play them, especially after giving up an
18-point lead.”

LOU               17           10           14           13 – 54

OTT               5             5             6             0 – 16

LOUISBURG: (7-8): Brooklyn
Diederich 5-7 2-2 14; Carson Buffington 4-8 2-3 12; Madilyn Melton 4-7 2-3 10;
Alyse Moore 3-5 0-0 6; Haley Cain 1-3 1-2 4; Kennia Hankinson 1-7 0-0 3; Megan
Foote 0-1 3-5 3; Jordan Mynsted 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 19-42 10-15 54. 3-point
field goals: 6, (Buffington 2, Diederich 2, Hankinson, Cain)

Louisburg sophomore Brooklyn Diederich pressures the ball during the second half of Tuesday’s game at Paola. The Lady Cats fell in a close game, 56-54.

PAOLA – The Louisburg girls
basketball team had a never-give-up attitude Tuesday when it hit the road to
face off with rival Paola.

That attitude was never more
evident than when the Lady Cats found themselves down 16 points early in the
third quarter. Some teams might have given up at that point, but Louisburg
reached down for something a little extra.

Louisburg rallied from that
deficit to take a one-point late in the fourth quarter, but didn’t have enough to
hold on in its 56-54 loss to the Panthers – a game in which Louisburg outscored
Paola by 10 in the second half.

“I am extremely proud of them,”
Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “But we have talked about this for some time
now that we have to play hard for the entire time. It can’t just be when we
feel like we have to get back in it, we have to do that throughout the game and
they are capable of doing it. With some of these young kids, I think we are
hopeful that some of that is going to click for them, or at least we are
hopeful that it will.”

Defense played a vital part of the
in the Lady Cats’ rally as they employed a frantic press and an active zone
defense that forced the Panthers into several turnovers – 23 for the game to be
exact.

Louisburg (6-8) turned those
mistakes into 14 points on the other end as they gradually crept back in the
game. Sophomore Brooklyn Diederich led the charge defensively for Louisburg as
she played at the top of zone and created a lot of havoc.

“We didn’t scheme anything
different, it was just an intensity level issue,” Lowry said. “If they can play
with that same intensity, then that defense can look that good all the time. I
have to give Brooklyn Diederich a lot of credit. We put her up at the top and
she really set the tone for us. I think other girls fed off of what she did and
a lot of credit to her in that second half.”

However, the downfall for the Lady
Cats was at the free-throw line. Louisburg converted just 9 of 26 attempts,
including several empty trips to the line late in the game.

Down two points, Louisburg missed
six straight at one time in the final minute, but got the offensive rebound
each time to give itself more chances.

“That is just heart,” Lowry said
of the team’s offensive rebounds. “We have talked about how free throws will
have a chance to win us a game and this was a great example of one. At the same
time, it didn’t come down to just missing those free throws, it was everything
we did up to that point. Even after missing those, we gave ourselves
opportunity after opportunity to get right back in it.”

Sophomore Madilyn Melton once
again led the Lady Cats in scoring with 20 points to go along with six rebounds
and four steals. Senior Kennia Hankinson had her best scoring game of the
season as she finished with 14 points, including four 3-pointers.

Senior Carson Buffington had a
team-high 10 rebounds to go along with seven points and sophomore Alyse Moore
had eight points and three steals.

Louisburg trailed 32-20 at
halftime and then saw its deficit expand to 16 a few minutes into the second
half. The Lady Cats eventually cut the deficit to six on six straight points
from Moore, then to start the fourth quarter, Hankinson scored five quick
points to make it a two-point game before fouling out.

The Lady Cats eventually took a 46-45 lead on a 3-pointer from Diederich with 2 minutes and 50 seconds left in the game, before Paola ballooned its lead back to five at one point. Another basket by Moore with 48 seconds left cut the Paola lead to two, but the Lady Cats weren’t able to cash in at the free-throw line and Paola was able to hold on.

Louisburg will try and get back on
track today when it hosts Ottawa for homecoming. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

LOU               11           9             12           22 – 54

PAO               15           17           8             16 – 56

LOUISBURG (6-8): Madilyn Melton
7-19 5-12 20; Kennia Hankinson 5-8 0-0 14; Alyse Moore 4-6 0-6 8; Carson
Buffington 2-10 2-2 7; Brooklyn Diederich 1-4 0-0 3; Sydni Keagle 0-0 1-2 1;
Megan Foote 0-3 1-2 1. Totals: 19-50 9-26 54. 3-point field goals: 7,
(Hankinson 4, Buffington, Diederich, Melton)

Louisburg senior Kohl Vogel pulls up for a shot in the lane Tuesday against Paola at Paola High School. Vogel scored a game-high 18 points in the win.

PAOLA – The Louisburg boys
basketball team needed a win in the worst way as the Wildcats had dropped five
of their last six games heading into Tuesday’s contest with Paola.

If the Wildcats were to get back
on the right track, they were going to have to get a win on their rival’s home
floor.

Louisburg was more than up for the
task. The Wildcat defense held Paola to just 11 second half points and got its
second win of 2019 with a 46-33 victory over the Panthers.

“It was exactly what we needed,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “Obviously both sides are going to get up for this game and it is always very emotional and high energy. It was a defensive struggle and both teams played really tough defense, and to hold them to 33 is important for us. It is nice to get us off that losing streak where we were one for our last six. Hopefully we can build off this.”

Defensively, the Wildcats were the aggressor as they forced 28 turnovers – many of those coming in the second half – and took advantage of the Panther mistakes. Louisburg scored 24 points off Paola turnovers and was a big reason for its second half surge.

It was a surge the Wildcats needed
to make as they trailed Paola, 22-21, at halftime and they had to look for a way
to jump start their offense.

“We were a little more aggressive,” Pfannenstiel said of his defense. “Sometimes we just sit back in our 2-3 zone and Paola’s offense looked a lot more comfortable versus that than our 1-3-1. Obviously our defense sparked our offense getting layups and run-outs and that was big for our energy level. It wasn’t that we weren’t playing hard, but we were just going through the motions and never got anything going.”

Senior Kohl Vogel led the Wildcats
in scoring with 18 points and it was Vogel who helped get this team going late
in the third quarter when he scored six straight points. Vogel made a runner to
put Louisburg up three, then had a steal and score and then followed it up with
another basket 15 seconds later on a steal by Madden Rutherford.

Rutherford recorded a team-high
seven rebounds and senior Brayden Gage led Louisburg with four assists and four
steals. Senior Dylan DeShazer was second on the team in scoring with eight and
fellow senior Noah Hill had seven.

Vogel added six more points to
begin the fourth quarter to put Louisburg up 13 points with five minutes left
in the game and the Wildcats were able to hold on for the big win.

“We have been in quite a few games
this year, and to be able to execute and finish the game was big and we needed
that,” Pfannenstiel said. “I thought we played well for four quarters and I
knew it was going to take a complete game to get a win and we did pretty well.”

Louisburg will try and continue
its winning ways tonight when it hosts Ottawa, the No. 6 team in Class 4A, for
homecoming. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU               12           9             12           13 – 46

PAO               11           11           7             4 – 33

LOUISBURG (6-7): Kohl Vogel 8-14
2-2 18; Dylan DeShazer 3-4 1-3 8; Noah Hill 3-5 1-3 7; Ben Guetterman 2-5 1-2
6; Michael Waldron 2-2 0-0 5; Madden Rutherford 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 19-40 5-11
46. 3-point field goals: 3, (Guetterman, Waldron, DeShazer)

Louisburg senior Carson Buffington knocks in a 3-pointer Friday during the Lady Cats’ consolation semifinal game against Anderson County at Wellsville High School.

WELLSVILLE – It may not have been the finish the Lousiburg girls basketball team wanted Saturday during the Top Gun Tournament at Wellsville High School, but the Lady Cats still had plenty of positives to build off of in their final two games.

Louisburg lost to Topeka Hayden in
the fifth-place game Saturday, 48-34, and was a game that was much closer than
the score indicated. The Lady Cats trimmed the Hayden lead to just six with 3
minutes and 46 seconds to play, but Hayden converted from the free-throw line
to seal the win.

This was after a big win for
Louisburg as it knocked off Anderson County, 64-46, in the consolation
semifinals Friday, thanks in part again to its defense. Louisburg fell to
Wellsville, 60-28, to open tournament play Thursday.

“With the exception of Thursday’s game versus
Wellsville, I thought our defensive effort was good and helped set the tone for
our play in the tournament,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “It’s great for
our team when our defense can create offense and intensity for us because we’re
flying around and getting on the floor for loose balls. With that said we have
to continue improving at scoring the basketball when we have opportunities at
the rim.”

Offensively, the Lady Cats got good performances
from sophomore Madilyn Melton and senior Kennia Hankinson against Hayden as the
two players combined for 28 of the team’s 34 points.

Melton scored a game-high 17 points, including a 10-for-11 performance from the free-throw line. Hankinson added 11 points, including three 3-pointers that helped keep the game close.

Louisburg also had to battle Hayden’s size inside,
including forward Brooklyn Hunter. Hunter scored a team-high 13 points, but was
shadowed the entire game by junior Haley Cain.

“I thought our defensive game plan with Hayden was
good and Haley Cain battled her tail off against their good post player,” Lowry
said. “We had our opportunities late in the game but just couldn’t finish some
plays.”

Against Anderson County, the Lady Cats used their
defense to spark their offense as they scored 24 and 19 points in the second
and third quarter, respectively.

Louisburg (6-7) took a 10-4 lead at the end of the
first quarter, but widened its lead to 13 points at halftime and 17 points
going into the final period.

Melton again had another big game for Louisburg as
she finished with 20 points and was one of three Lady Cats to score in double
figures. Cain had a big night with 12 points and Buffington added 10 points in
the win.

It didn’t go quite as well to start the tournament as
the Lady Cats had trouble scoring against a Wellsville team that was tough
defensively. Louisburg trailed 24-6 at the end of the first quarter, and after
a better second period, went scoreless in the third quarter and sealed its
fate.

Following the tournament, Top Gun officials released
their awards and Buffington earned a spot on the tournament’s all-academic team.

Louisburg will try and bounce back this week with a
pair of wins as it travels to Paola tonight for a rivalry matchup and then will
host Ottawa on Friday for homecoming.

LOU               3             11           5             15 – 34

HAY               11           8             12           17 – 48

LOUISBURG (6-7): Madilyn Melton 3
10-11 17; Kennia Hankinson 3 2-2 11; Carson Buffington 0 2-4 2; Alyse Moore 0
2-8 2; Haley Cain 1 0-0 2. Totals: 7 16-25 34. 3-point field goals: 4,
(Hankinson 3, Melton)

LOU               10           24           19           11 – 64

AC                  4             17           13           12 – 46

LOUISBURG: Madilyn Melton 7 6-8
20; Haley Cain 5 2-2 12; Carson Buffington 4 0-0 10; Megan Foote 3 0-0 7;
Brooklyn Diederich 2 0-0 5; Kennia Hankinson 1 2-4 4; Alyse Moore 2 0-2 4;
Madison Quinn 1 0-0 2. Totals: 25 10-16 64. 3-point field goals: 4, (Buffington
2, Diederich, Foote)

LOU               6             15           0             7 – 28

WEL              24           13           17           6 – 60

LOUISBURG: Madilyn Melton 4 0-2 8;
Carson Buffington 2 0-0 6; Jordan Mynsted 2 0-0 5; Brooklyn Diederich 2 1-2 5;
Haley Cain 1 0-0 3; Megan Foote 0 1-4 1. Totals: 11 1-9 28. 3-point field
goals: 4, (Buffington 2, Mynsted, Cain)

Louisburg sophomore Ben Guetterman tries to drive to the basket Friday during the Wildcats’ home game against Spring Hill.

The opportunity to get a big home win for the Louisburg boys basketball team was laid out for the Wildcats to take.

Louisburg had just gone on a run
to take a five-point lead going into the fourth quarter Friday against Spring
Hill. The momentum was all the side of the Wildcats, but unfortunately for
Louisburg, the final period was all Spring Hill.

The Wildcats struggled offensively
in the fourth quarter and the Broncos took advantage as they handed Louisburg a
50-43 loss.

For much of the game, the Wildcat
defense was the difference as they forced 16 Spring Hill turnovers, including
several that came off a full-court press. Offensively, however, Louisburg managed
just six points in the final eight minutes and Spring Hill mounted the
comeback.

“Spring Hill turned the ball over
quite a bit and I think we had a lot to do with that,” Louisburg coach Ty
Pfannenstiel said. “Our slow-down press kind of caused them some problems and
we made them uncomfortable. We have to be able to execute off that. We had the
lead going into the fourth and we always tend to have one of those bad quarters
where we score in the single digits and you are not going to win many games
when you have quarters like that.”

Louisburg struggled shooting the
ball for much of the night as it shot just 29 percent from the field, and
outside of senior Kohl Vogel, who finished with a game-high 18 points, the
Wildcats didn’t have anyone else score in double figures.

Junior Michael Waldron and sophomore
Ben Guetterman each finished with eight points, and both connected on 3-pointers
at big moments in the game.

“I thought Waldron and Ben shot
the ball well for us, but overall we were like 4-20 from 3-point range,”
Pfannenstiel said. “If we are going to shoot that many, then we better start
hitting some and we need to figure out if we are shooters or not. If not, then
we have to find other ways to put the ball in the basket. You have to step up
and make plays in games like this and they just made more than we did,
especially in the fourth.”

Spring Hill took a 17-10 lead at
the end of the first quarter, but the Wildcats battled back to trim the Bronco
lead just one at halftime. Louisburg then went on a 7-1 run to end the third to
grab a 37-32 advantage.

Vogel scored a basket and two free
throws during that run, while Guetterman hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats
some momentum.

The Wildcats, however, had a hard
time containing Spring Hill’s Brennan Feeback. The Bronco senior hit several
big shots as he scored a game-high 20 points and also had 15 rebounds.

“Feeback made some great plays for
them as well and we needed to take away his opportunities and eliminate their
best players,” Pfannenstiel said. “We took care of the ball well. We had some
bad turnovers, but 10 turnovers is by far our least of the season and I thought
that was a positive. We were patient on offense, but we have to find ways to
score and shoot the ball better from the outside.”

Louisburg will try and bounce back
today when it travels to Paola in what is the first of three games this week.
The Wildcats will also to travel to Baldwin on Wednesday before hosting Ottawa
on Friday for homecoming.

“The good thing about basketball
is you don’t have to wait long to get right back on the court,” Pfannenstiel
said. “We have a busy week coming with three games this week and playing Paola
is always a big game for our players and we played them well there last year.
Hopefully we can turn things around.”

LOU               10           12           15           6 – 43

SH                  17           6             9             18 – 50

LOUISBURG (5-7): Kohl Vogel 6-15
6-6 18; Ben Guetterman 3-5 0-0 8; Michael Waldron 3-7 0-0 8; Noah Hill 2-4 0-0
4; Madden Rutherford 1-8 1-4 3; Dylan DeShazer 1-9 0-2 2. Totals: 16-55 7-12
43. 3-point field goals: 4, (Guetterman 2, Waldron 2)

Louisburg senior Dylan DeShazer puts up a shot during the Baldwin Invitational last week at Baldwin High School.

BALDWIN CITY – For three of the
four quarters, the Louisburg boys basketball team actually bested Wellsville on
Friday during the fifth-place game of the Baldwin Invitational.

It was the third quarter, however,
that helped send the Wildcats home with a loss.

Louisburg scored just four points
in the third quarter, and despite a furious rally in the fourth, the Wildcats
couldn’t make the comeback in the 64-53 loss to the Eagles at Baldwin High
School.

“We knew Wellsville was going to be a
tough test for us,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are a very
patient and disciplined team. They shot the ball really well coming out after
halftime and only missed three shots in the third quarter. We were really bad
offensively.”

Wellsville outscored Louisburg 21-4 in
the third period after the Wildcats trailed by just one point at halftime.
Louisburg outscored Wellsville 24-17 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t
enough.

Kohl Vogel had another big game for the
Wildcats with a team-high 14 points, while fellow senior Brayden Gage added 12
points and senior Dylan DeShazer added nine.

The Wildcats (5-6) had a tough time
containing the Wellsville dynamic duo of Jackson Dwyer and Zach Vance. The two
players each finished with 22 points and combined for 44 of the Eagles’ 64
points.

“I was proud of how we fought back in the
fourth quarter,” Pfannenstiel said. “We were able to cut their lead to seven
points in the fourth, but they hit a couple more big shots that proved too much
to overcome. If you take away the third quarter, we played pretty
well.  But obviously you have to play well for all four quarters and we
just didn’t do that I think there is a lot to be learned from this game
and hopefully we can come back and be more consistent.”

Louisburg will try and get back on track
Friday when it hosts Spring Hill. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

LOU               13           12           4             24 – 53

WEL              15           11           21           17 – 64

LOUISBURG (5-6): Kohl Vogel 5-9
3-4 14; Brayden Gage 4-8 3-6 12; Dylan DeShazer 4-5 1-2 9; Noah Hill 3-4 1-1 7;
Madden Rutherford 2-7 1-2 6; Weston Guetterman 1-5 1-1 3; Michael Waldron 1-3
0-0 2. Totals: 20-43 10-16 53. 3-point field goals: 3, (Vogel, Gage,
Rutherford)

Louisburg sophomore Alyse Moore drives to the basket Friday during the Lady Cats’ game with Spring Hill on Friday at Louisburg High School.

The Louisburg girls basketball
team put together its best quarter of the season Friday against Spring Hill and
the Lady Cats staked themselves a big lead going into halftime.

Unfortunately for Louisburg,
Spring Hill came out of halftime and turned the tables on the Lady Cats.

The Lady Cats saw an 18-point lead
slowly whittle away and Spring Hill recorded a big comeback as it handed
Louisburg a 63-59 loss at Louisburg High School.

“This is the type of game that
shows the potential that this team is capable of being,” Louisburg coach Shawn
Lowry said. “We are by far what we are going to be by the end of February, which
I am excited about. I know how hard the girls are going to work from here on
out and they get an opportunity to show how they will respond. They are
disappointed, but at the same time they are not going to let this get them
down.”

Louisburg (5-5) trailed by five
points going into the second quarter, which is where the Lady Cats created a
lot of distance between themselves and the Broncos. They outscored Spring Hill
27-4 in the period and ended up taking a 34-16 halftime lead.

Defense keyed the Lady Cats in the
second quarter as they used a full-court press to frustrate Spring Hill and
forced nine turnovers in the frame. That defense turned into instant offense as
Spring Hill battled foul problems.

Those foul problems sent the Lady
Cats to the free-throw line – a lot – and they converted. Louisburg made 30 of
47 free throws for the game and they attacked the basket on the Bronco defense.
The Lady Cats made more free throws than they had points (19) in their last
loss to Baldwin.

“Whether we were up 18 or up 2, I
just loved how our kids battled and how they are together in this,” Lowry said.
“We can learn a lot from this game and we are going to get better from it. Just
look at how big a jump we made from our last game from a shooting perspective,
from a free-throw shooting perspective and it is just because they were focused
and ready to go. We just have to make sure that our defensive effort and
discipline is for an entire game and not just the first part.”

The second half was a different
story for Louisburg. The Broncos outscored the Lady Cats 25-9 in the third
period to cut the Louisburg lead to just two, before taking the lead back for
good with four-and-a-half minutes left in the game.

Louisburg also had some foul
trouble of its own as the team’s leading scorer, Madilyn Melton, fouled out
midway through the fourth quarter.

The Lady Cats made several runs at
the Broncos as Megan Foote cut the Spring Hill lead to one on a 3-pointer with
just over a minute left. Louisburg also got a basket from Carson Buffington and
a free throw from freshman Delaney Wright with 42 seconds remaining, but still
trailed the Broncos by one.

Spring Hill made a free throw with
under 30 seconds left to make it a two-point game, but Buffington missed a
3-pointer with under 10 seconds left and Spring Hill was able to ice the game
at the free-throw line.

Buffington led Louisburg in
scoring with 18 points and also tied for a team-high with six steals and had
five rebounds. Melton was next with 17 points, while Foote also finished in
double figures with 10. Foote and sophomore Alyse Moore had six and five
steals, respectively.

Louisburg will try and bounce back
this week in a challenging Top Gun Tournament at Wellsville High School. The
Lady Cats, the No. 6 seed, will face Wellsville at 6:45 p.m., today.

“It is loaded and it is a good
one,” Lowry said “We are excited to go play and we will get to play the host
team to kick it off. There are some great teams like Baldwin, Spring Hill and
Nemaha Central is an undefeated No. 1-ranked team in 3A. Then you have a team
like Hayden there, whose record isn’t great, but they play in a tough league
and are a solid team. It will be a lot of fun.”

LOU               7             27           9             16 – 59

SH                  12           4             25           22 – 63

LOUISBURG (5-5): Carson Buffington
3-6 11-12 18; Madilyn Melton 4-6 9-14 17; Megan Foote 2-4 5-6 10; Alyse Moore
3-4 2-9 9; Haley Cain 1-6 1-2 3; Sydni Keagle 0-0 1-2 1; Delaney Wright 0-0 1-2
1. Totals: 13-30 30-47 59. 3-point field goals: 3, (Buffington, Moore, Foote)

Louisburg senior Brayden Gage gets to the basket for two points Thursday during the consolation semifinal game of the Baldwin Invitational against Bishop Ward. The Wildcats won 58-40.

BALDWIN CITY – Coming off a
difficult loss to begin the Baldwin Invitational, the Louisburg boys basketball
team needed to make amends quickly.

The Wildcats were on a three-game
losing skid going into Thursday’s consolation semifinal against Bishop Ward and
they wanted get things back on track in this tournament before heading back
into Frontier League play.

Louisburg got the win it was looking for as the Wildcats downed Bishop Ward, 58-40, behind a big second half in which they outscored the Cyclones 37-23.

“We were just more patient on
offense and we were getting better shots,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel
said. “I thought we worked the offense a lot better than we did in our first
game here. The first half wasn’t pretty because shots just weren’t falling, but
we were taking good shots. The second half our defense really sparked our
offense and I thought we were a lot better defensively and it got us going.”

It was a balanced effort from the
Wildcats as two players scored in double figures and eight different players
found the scoring column.

Senior Noah Hill had a big night
with a team-high 12 points before having to leave the game in the second half
due to an injury. Senior guard Brayden Gage also picked it up as he finished
with 11.

Sophomore guard Weston Guetterman
added eight points in the win, while senior Kohl Vogel finished with seven.
Junior Michael Waldron added a pair of 3-pointers to the cause and freshman
Julian Margrave came off the bench to score his first varsity points as he
finished with six.

“It was good to see a bunch a
different guys contribute and not just rely on one or two guys,” Pfannenstiel
said. “I thought we moved the ball around well, especially in the second half,
and more guys were able to contribute for us. We were able to play a few extra
guys as well, which I think will allow us to play even harder moving forward.”

The Wildcats (5-5) found themselves
in close battle with the Cyclones in the first half as they led just 21-17 at
halftime. Louisburg was able to overcome some turnovers problems in the second half
as it got key baskets down the stretch to pull away.

Louisburg will try and finish the
Baldwin tournament with a two straight wins tonight when it faces off with Wellsville
at 7 p.m., in the fifth-place game.

“We want to get a on a roll here
and it was nice to be able to break that three-game losing streak we were on,”
Pfannenstiel said. “Hopefully we can get some momentum going heading back into
league play. Wellsville is a very disciplined team and a very patient team.
They play incredibly hard and they play smart, so we are going to have to play
a very good game if we want to be able to win.”

LOU               11           10           19           18 – 58

BW                10           7             13           10 – 40

LOUISBURG (5-5): Noah Hill 5 2-3
12; Brayden Gage 5 0-0 11; Weston Guetterman 4 0-2 8; Kohl Vogel 3 1-2 7;
Michael Waldron 2 0-0 6; Julian Margrave 2 1-1 6; Dylan DeShazer 1 3-4 5;
Madden Rutherford 1 1-2 3. Totals: 23 8-14 58. 3-point field goals: 4, (Waldron
2, Gage, Margrave)

WILDCATS COME UP SHORT AGAINST
HARMON

Louisburg couldn’t have asked for
a better start to the Baldwin Invitational on Tuesday as it opened with Harmon.

The Wildcats went on a run to
start the first quarter and jumped out to a double-digit lead. Unfortunately,
Louisburg wasn’t able to keep its momentum as it fell to Harmon, 51-45.

Louisburg jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the first quarter, but took a step back in the second quarter to allow Harmon to get back into the game. Despite a back-and-forth third quarter, Harmon used a 15-8 run in the fourth to seal the win.

“It was a tough loss,” Louisburg
coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “I thought we played pretty well for three
quarters, but got a little bit out of sorts offensively in the fourth quarter.
We just turned the ball over way too many times and that has been our Achilles heel.”

Senior Kohl Vogel tried to keep
the Wildcats in the game as he finished with a team-high 22 points and had six
rebounds. Senior Dylan DeShazer just missed double figures with nine points,
but also had a team-high seven rebounds.

LOU               16           6             15           8 – 45

HAR               2             18           16           15 – 51

LOUISBURG: Kohl Vogel 10-18 0-1
22; Dylan DeShazer 3-12 2-2 9; Brayden Gage 1-5 3-4 6; Weston Guetterman 1-5
2-2 4; Madden Rutherford 2-4 0-1 4. Totals: 17-48 7-12 45. 3-point field goals:
4, (Vogel 2, Gage, DeShazer)

Louisburg guard Megan Foote tries to dribble past a Baldwin defender Wednesday during the Lady Cats’ road contest at Baldwin. Louisburg fell 49-19.

BALDWIN CITY – Going on the road
against a state-ranked team is usually a difficult task and it was just that
Wednesday for the Louisburg girls basketball team.

The Lady Cats ventured to No. 5-ranked Baldwin for a makeup of game that was postponed last week. Louisburg fell 49-19 to move its record to 5-4 on the season.

It was close game early as both
teams struggled to find their footing in the first quarter and the Lady Cats
trailed just 6-3 going into the second quarter.

Baldwin eventually got into a rhythm and pulled away as it knocked down several outside shots to score 20 points in the second period and took a 26-7 halftime lead. From there, the Bulldogs were able to pull away and not look back.

Louisburg had just three players
score in the contest. Sophomore Madilyn Melton led the way with seven points
and nine rebounds, while fellow sophomore Megan Foote had seven points and six
rebounds.

Senior Carson Buffington finished
with five points and seven rebounds. Junior Haley Cain was second on the team
in rebounding with eight.

The Lady Cats will compete in the Top Gun Tournament in Wellsville beginning Tuesday. Louisburg is the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 Wellsville at 6:45 p.m.

Tonight, the Lady Cats will play at home for the first time in 2019 as it hosts Spring Hill for a Frontier League matchup. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.

LOU               3             4             8             4 – 19

BAL                6             20           16           7 – 49

LOUISBURG (5-4): Madilyn Melton
2-6 3-6 7; Megan Foote 1-7 5-6 7; Carson Buffington 1-7 2-6 5. Totals: 4-35
10-24 19. 3-point field goals: 1, (Buffington)