Louisburg senior Madisen Simpson puts up a shot in the lane during Tuesday’s home opener against Eudora. The Lady Cats scored 19 unanswered points to open the game and ran away for 43-23 win. 

It was a rough fourth quarter Tuesday as the Louisburg girls basketball team failed to score in the game’s final eight minutes.

For most teams that would spell doom and gloom, but not Louisburg. Even after that rough patch, the Lady Cats still won – and they did it comfortably.

That should tell you about all you need to know as Louisburg dominated Eudora 43-23 in its home opener at Louisburg High School. The Lady Cats scored 19 unanswered points to jump out to a big lead to start the game and captured their second consecutive win in the process.

“Defense really set the tone for the game and our offense kind of fed off that, especially early,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “The girls have challenged each other hard at practice and we played well.

“It was just a great effort. We were on the floor getting all the loose balls and I think that is our identity. We found that out early on and we are going to have to be a team that fights for every loose ball. We are going to have to be disciplined about how we rebound the ball and how we defend.”

Louisburg senior Chloe Renner goes up for two points Tuesday against Eudora.

Defensively, the Lady Cats (2-3) smothered the Eudora offense as they held the Cardinals scoreless for more than eight minutes and Eudora didn’t score its first field goal until 47 seconds left in the first half.

Louisburg was active defensively most of the night and tallied 12 steals as a team. Five of those steals came from guard Isabelle Holtzen as the Lady Cat junior was one of several players to turn up the pressure on the perimeter.

“They really responded,” Lowry said of his team “After the tournament last week, they responded about some of the things I talked to them about defensively. I think they saw some sparks of that in some of the games that we played in before, and our practices since then have been preparing to do this kind of defensive work and they really embraced that. It is another step for us to become the team that we know we can be later this year.

“I thought Isabelle really sparked us defensively. “She is such a scrappy kid and she is one of the kids that you love to have around because she is going to battle for everything.”

Senior Tayler Lancaster opened the game with five consecutive points to help build a 7-0 lead and senior Madisen Simpson finished the first quarter with seven points to put Louisburg up 19-0.

Free throws from senior Chloe Renner and a basket from senior Paige Buffington gave Louisburg a 20-point advantage to start the second quarter. Holtzen had a steal and a score and Simpson followed with five straight points to put the Lady Cats up 29-2 right before halftime.

Louisburg put together a 43-12 lead going into the fourth quarter and eventually forced a running clock. The Lady Cats also performed well from the free-throw line as they converted 15 of 20 opportunities.

Simpson led the Lady Cats in scoring with 14 points and Holtzen was next on the team with seven points to go along with her five steals. Buffington, Renner and Lancaster all finished with six points.

Sophomore Carson Buffington led Louisburg with seven rebounds and freshman Haley Cain added five.

“We have kids that are growing up and doing more,” Lowry said. “Chloe is starting to feel more comfortable and more confident. You can see that in her play and defensively is where it started for her. Haley is a freshman, and she is still trying to figure out the high school game, but she is getting things as well.”

Louisburg will try for its third consecutive win today when it travels to Ottawa for its final game before the holiday break. Tipoff is set for approximately 6 p.m.

LOU               19           10           14           0 – 43

EUD               0             5             7             11 – 23

LOUISBURG (2-3): Madisen Simpson 14, Isabelle Holtzen 7, Tayler Lancaster 6, Paige Buffington 6, Chloe Renner 6, Carson Buffington 4. Totals: 12-33 15-20 43. 3-point field goals: 4, (Simpson 2, Holtzen, Lancaster)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LOU               12           15           8             11 – 46

AC                  10           9             8             7 – 34

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

Louisburg senior Grant Harding finishes off an alley-oop after a pass from teammate Jayce Geiman on Friday in the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School. 

BURLINGTON – Sam Guetterman was just in the right place at the right time – after time, after time.

In fact, Anderson County couldn’t keep track of the Louisburg senior. Whether it was as simple as a pull-up jumper, an offensive rebound or the beneficiary of a pass from a teammate, Guetterman made the most of every chance.

Guetterman scored a game-high 26 points as he helped Louisburg to its second straight win with a 75-49 victory over Anderson County. Several of those points came thanks to senior teammate Grant Harding who found an open Guetterman while driving to the basket.

“That was really great to see and Sammy played a great game,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “He and Grant worked really well together and defensively he was always solid. Offensively, that is what he is capable of. He found his opportunities and he exploited it every single time. It was fantastic to see.”

Guetterman shot close to 70 percent from the field as he converted on 12 of 17 shots to go along with five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

Harding had an efficient night as well as he finished with 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting, including a pair of dunks to help to get his team going. One of those dunks came in the first quarter on an alley-oop from fellow senior Jayce Geiman.

Other than the final four minutes of the second quarter, the Wildcats dominated the Bulldogs offensively and shot 52 percent from the field for the game.

Louisburg (2-2) opened the game on a 20-9 run in the first quarter, including eight points from Guetterman. After a dunk and a steal from Harding, the Wildcats led 28-14 with five minutes left in the first half.

Anderson County responded with a 12-3 run to get back into the game as the Wildcats led 31-26 at halftime.

The Wildcats got the lead right back to double digits in less than three minutes as they opened the second half 12-5 on baskets from juniors Ben Minster and Dalton Ribordy, Guetterman and a 3-pointer from Harding.

Louisburg senior Sam Guetterman goes up for two of his 26 points Friday against Anderson County.

Louisburg outscored Anderson County 26-9 in the third quarter to all but seal the game for the Wildcats and they were able to do it without one of their starters. Senior forward T.J. Dover was out with an illness, so the rest of the Wildcats picked up the slack.

Minster took Dover’s place in the starting lineup and scored in double figures with 13 points, while Ribordy and Desmond Doles each pulled down a team-high five rebounds.

“We played fantastic,” Nelson said. “We really asserted ourselves on both ends of the floor. We crashed hard and communicated on defense. We knew we were going to be thin on the bench missing T.J., and Ben wasn’t feeling well either, but we picked each other up. It was fantastic. Offensively, we took high-percentage shots and we didn’t settle. We asserted ourselves defensively and we set the tone with perimeter defense.”

In fact, the Wildcats missed different players with illness throughout the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic, but were still able to finish with a 2-1 record, with their lone loss coming against Burlington earlier in the week.

“They picked each other up and did a fantastic job,” Nelson said. “I would like to have that Burlington game back, but it was everything you could ask for. We used all 10 of our players tonight and everyone did something well. Monday we get back to work and fix the couple errors that we have.”

Louisburg will get into Frontier League play starting this week and it will be tested early. The Wildcats host Eudora, the No. 7 team in Class 4A Division I, on Tuesday. Then next week, the Wildcats will travel to No. 3 Ottawa before they take a break for the holidays.

“I will be glad to have a home game more than anything else,” Nelson said. “If you believe all the preseason standings, (Ottawa and Eudora) were the No. 1 and 2 teams in our league, so we will see what we are made of pretty soon.”

LOU               20           11           26           18 – 75

BUR               9             17           9             14 – 49

LOUISBURG (2-2): Sam Guetterman 26, Grant Harding 19, Ben Minster 13, Dalton Ribordy 6, Desmond Doles 4, Jayce Geiman 3, Dalton Stone 3, Jake Hill 1. Totals: 31-55 8-15 75. 3-point field goals: 5, (Harding 2, Geiman, Guetterman, Stone)

Louisburg junior Ben Minster goes up for a shot against Baldwin on Tuesday in the second game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School. The Wildcats picked up their first victory of the season, 63-50.

BURLINGTON – In its third game of the year, and its second in as many nights, the Louisburg boys basketball team was able to get its first victory of the season and the Wildcats weren’t about to let it get away – no matter what their opponent threw at them.

Louisburg faced off with Baldwin in the second game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School, and despite a barrage of eight second half 3-pointers from the Bulldogs, Louisburg came away with a 63-50 victory.

“Given how poorly we played the night before, to come out here with the mentality to rectify the errors we made in our last game, for the most part we did that,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them about that and says a lot about the team mentally and physically to play on back to back nights.”

The Wildcats (1-2) used a couple big runs to pull away from the Bulldogs, who found themselves playing catch up most of the evening. Louisburg went on a 15-2 run to end the first half and took a 15-point halftime advantage.

Baldwin, which had 11 3-pointers in the game, converted eight of them in the second half to eventually cut the Louisburg lead to seven points with 3 minutes and 45 seconds left in the game.

From there, the Wildcats created some more distance as they finished on a 10-4 run, including six straight points from senior Grant Harding – two of which came on a steal and a breakaway dunk. Baskets from senior T.J. Dover and junior Ben Minster helped ice the game during the stretch.

“We have to have the mindset throughout the whole game and not just stretches, even though it is nice when they do it,” Nelson said of the offensive spurts. “We had another run at the end of the fourth quarter. During those stretches, the guys were acting instinctively, instead of reactionary. When these guys are instinctive, they can do some really good things.”

Louisburg senior Jake Hill dribbles toward the basket during Tuesday’s contest in Baldwin.

In the second quarter, Louisburg led just 17-15 but five straight free throws from Minster and Harding, along with baskets from Minster, Sam Guetterman, Jake Hill and Harding helped key the big first half run.

Louisburg had to play with some adversity most of the night as it didn’t have starting forward Dalton Ribordy, who was out with an illness. Dover, the team’s other starting forward, was saddled with foul trouble for much of the night.

The Wildcats were forced to play smaller with juniors Desmond Doles and Minster, but those two players, along with Hill, picked up the slack. Minster scored in double figures with 14 points while Doles and Hill combined for 10 points.

“This was our best team game of the season,” Nelson said. “We had guys come off the bench and do some really nice things. We had to play smaller than we usually do, but our rotations were good. Ben and Dez stepped up big time for us. Without Dalton we are pretty thin, but it was nice to see those other guys play well.”

Harding led Louisburg in scoring with 19 points, and along with Minster, the Wildcats had three score in double figures as Dover finished with 10. Harding also led the Wildcats with five rebounds and three steals.

Louisburg will try for its second straight win Friday when it travels back to Burlington to play Anderson County for the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic.

LOU               14           8              17           14 – 63

BAL                11           6              22           11 – 50

LOUISBURG (1-2): Grant Harding 19, Ben Minster 14, T.J. Dover 10, Jayce Geiman 6, Desmond Doles 6, Sam Guetterman 4, Jake Hill 4. Totals: 21-42 17-27 63. 3-point field goals: 2, (Geiman 2)

LOUISBURG LOSES TOURNEY OPENER TO BURLINGTON

The Louisburg boys basketball team had an opportunity to defend its Wildcat-Bulldog Classic title Monday when they traveled to Burlington in the first of the three-game round-robin tournament.

Those title hopes took a hit as Burlington scored 22 fourth quarter points to defeat Louisburg 60-52 after Louisburg held a one-point lead going into the final frame.

“They zoned us quite a bit and we didn’t have good communication,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “We didn’t rebound real well and had some turnovers. We had a few calls that didn’t go our way, but we didn’t react the way we needed to.”

Burlington had a big night at the free-throw line as it converted 23 of 31 from the stripe, compared to just 11 for 16 for Louisburg. The Wildcats shot 37 percent for the game.

Senior T.J. Dover led Louisburg in scoring with 10 points, while Minster also finished double figures with 10.

LOU               9              13           17           13 – 52

BUR               9              18           11           22 – 60

LOUISBURG: T.J. Dover 12, Ben Minster 10, Grant Harding 9, Jayce Geiman 8, Sam Guetterman 6, Desmond Doles 5, Jake Hill 2. Totals: 19-51 11-16 52. 3-point field goals: 3, (Geiman 2, Harding)

Louisburg junior Isabelle Holtzen dribbles past a Baldwin defender Tuesday in the second game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic. The Lady Cats fell 56-50.

BURLINGTON – As Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry was gathering his things and getting ready to leave the floor, a group of parents walked over to him with something to say.

Those kind of conversations aren’t always the most pleasant, especially after his Louisburg team just lost a hard fought contest. However, these parents weren’t from his school – but his opponent.

“We had Baldwin parents stop us after the game and tell me that our kids play so hard and a great game,” Lowry said. “Those are great things to hear. These girls give everything. They play their tails off and they are just tough kids.”

It wasn’t something it could put in the win column, but for the Louisburg High School girls basketball team, Tuesday’s game with Baldwin had its fair share of small victories.

The Lady Cats faced off with the Bulldogs in the second game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic at Burlington Middle School and left with a 56-50 loss. Still, against one of the top teams in the Frontier League, Louisburg showed it wasn’t going to back down.

Louisburg (0-3) trailed by as many as 17 points in the second quarter and whittled the Baldwin lead all the way down to a two possession game late in the fourth quarter. The Lady Cats did all this as they were saddled with foul trouble for most of the contest.

Starters Carson Buffington, Paige Buffington and Madisen Simpson all had three fouls in the first half and the Lady Cats had to rely on their bench for much of the second quarter and into the second half.

Senior Paige Buffington puts up a shot in the lane Tuesday against Baldwin at Burlington.

Juniors Isabelle Holtzen, Haven Turner and Ryan Caldwell, along with freshman Haley Cain, all gave Louisburg valuable minutes to keep the game within reach.

“That is a good team we played,” Lowry said. “Baldwin is as good as any team that we will see and there are a lot of good players in that group. We had other kids step up when we needed them to. We had freshmen and sophomores come and contribute when we need them. That was great to see. We had a lot of players that had to sit down and just couldn’t play. We had players foul out at the end and we had players still battle away and that is awesome to see.”

Louisburg whittled the Baldwin lead to single digits in the third quarter on a quick 6-0 run on baskets from Paige Buffington, Carson Buffington and Lancaster as Baldwin battled foul trouble itself.

Baldwin ballooned its lead to double digits again in the fourth quarter, but with 45 seconds left Lancaster hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six again. Louisburg could get no closer.

Still, the Lady Cats outscored Baldwin 25-17 in the second half and hope to carry that forward for the rest of the season.

“We have struggled a lot with the third quarter,” Lowry said. “But this time we won the third and fourth quarters and that was big for us. It is a confidence builder because we haven’t been doing that. We haven’t been winning that third quarter, which is something that I think is important for the entire game.

Simpson led Louisburg in scoring with a team-high 15 points and Lancaster also finished in double figures with 11. Carson and Paige Buffington each added seven points.

Carson also pulled down a team-high six rebounds and senior Emalee Overbay added five. Holtzen came off the bench to lead Louisburg with four steals.

Louisburg will try for its first win of the season Friday in the final game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic as it faces off with Anderson County.

BAL                17           22           8              9 – 56

LOU               12           13           13           12 – 50

LOUISBURG (0-3): Madisen Simpson 15, Tayler Lancaster 11, Paige Buffington 7, Carson Buffington 7, Isabelle Holtzen 6, Haley Cain 1, Ryan Caldwell 1. Totals: 13-33 20-31 50. 3-point field goals: 4, (Simpson 2, Lancaster, Holtzen)

BUFFINGTON BREAKS REBOUND RECORD IN LOSS

Louisburg sophomore Carson Buffington had the night of her life Monday – at least as far as rebounds are concerned.

Buffington broke her own school rebounding record as she pulled down 22 boards in the first round game of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic against Burlington. In the season opener, Buffington pulled down 18 rebounds against Pittsburg on Friday when she eclipsed her school record of 17 a year ago.

“That is impressive,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “To average about 20 rebounds in two games is pretty good. I peeked at the state record and it is like 423, which is a crazy number. Who knows though, Carson has a lot of ball to play left.”

Buffington’s record-breaking performance was the lone positive in what was a rough night for Louisburg as it lost to Burlington 60-35. Burlington, which is ranked No. 4 in Class 4A-Division II, put pressure on the Lady Cats for most of the night.

Louisburg trailed 40-26 going into the final period, but Burlington went on a 20-9 run in the final frame to secure the win.

“It was ugly for us,” Lowry said. “It was night and day from how we played against Baldwin. Our effort wasn’t really good and our defense wasn’t where it needed to be.”

Paige Buffington led Louisburg in scoring with nine points and Tayler Lancaster finished with eight. Carson Buffington also had seven points and four steals in the loss, while senior Emalee Overbay added seven rebounds.

BUR               12           16           12           20 – 60

LOU               7              12           9              9 – 35

LOUISBURG: Paige Buffington 9, Tayler Lancaster 8, Carson Buffington 7, Haley Cain 4, Madisen Simpson 3, Isabelle Holtzen 3, Emalee Overbay 2, Chloe Renner 1. Totals: 13-72 7-23 35. 3-point field goals: 4, (Lancaster 2, P. Buffington, Simpson)

Louisburg senior T.J. Dover goes up for a basket Friday during the Wildcats’ season opener at Pittsburg High School. Dover finished with a team-high 14 points in Louisburg 53-46 loss.

PITTSBURG – There are many things coaches can simulate in practice to prepare their team for when the season starts.

Athleticism isn’t one of them.

That was on full display Friday when the Louisburg boys basketball team traveled to Pittsburg for its season opener. The Purple Dragons caused havoc on the perimeter and it took a while for the Wildcats to settle in.

By then, the Wildcats didn’t have enough time to overcome a first half deficit and went on to fall to Pittsburg 53-46. Despite the loss, the Wildcats still left Pittsburg with a good frame of mind.

“I thought our teamwork was fantastic,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “When we had the opportunity to run our two-man game, we did a really good job with that. Pittsburg is just faster than what we can show in practice, but we just have to have that mentality. The boys played their tails off. They were the SEK champs last year and we played them at their place. We knew it would be tough, but we had our chances.”

Defensively, the Wildcats held the Purple Dragons on first shot opportunities, but Pittsburg was quicker to the ball on missed shots as it had 12 second-chance points in the first half which helped them jump out to a double digit lead in the second quarter.

Louisburg took an early 6-3 lead after a dunk from senior Grant Harding, but the Purple Dragons responded and Pittsburg took a 14-11 lead after the first period.

Senior Grant Harding dunks the ball during the first quarter Friday in Pittsburg.

Wildcat senior Sam Guetterman cut it to one point with a reverse layup to start the second quarter, but from there Pittsburg went on a 9-2 run that was stopped on baskets from seniors T.J. Dover and Jayce Geiman. Pittsburg went into halftime with a 27-19 advantage.

Pittsburg also caused havoc on the Louisburg perimeter as it forced 11 first half turnovers, including eight in the second period.

“They put perimeter pressure on us really, really well,” Nelson said. “Looking back, and it is something we emphasize, we give up 12-14 second chance points and that is your ball game right there. Even despite their pressure, we exploited their weaknesses in the post on occasion. There are still so many good things to look back on, and if we can get a couple of those shots to fall that almost went in, then it might have been a little different.”

The Wildcats calmed down in the second half and had just two turnovers the rest of the game. Louisburg stayed in the game from the free-throw line as it converted 7 of 8 opportunities in the third quarter, including six consecutive from juniors Ben Minster and Dalton Ribordy. Louisburg was 13-for-16 for the contest.

Dover, who scored a game-high 14 points, had eight of those in the final quarter to keep the Wildcats in it. Harding was next on the team with nine points.

Although they are still looking for that first win, the Wildcats have positives to build on.

“In my four years here, this is the best defensive rotation we have had,” Nelson said. “Pittsburg is a fast team and we played man defense most of the night. Our rotations were great and there are good things to take from this. We would have liked to get a win, but it is equally important to take our lumps, learn from them and be ready for the tournament.”

That tournament begins today when Louisburg travels to Burlington for the first round of the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic. The Wildcats will face Burlington tonight and then will turn around and play Baldwin on Tuesday. It will all wrap up with one final game Friday.

LOU               11           8             14           13 – 46

PIT                 14           13           14           12 – 53

LOUISBURG (0-1): T.J. Dover 14, Grant Harding 9, Jayce Geiman 7, Sam Guetterman 6, Dalton Ribordy 5, Ben Minster 5. Totals 17-40 13-16 46. 3-point field goals: 1, (Geiman)

Louisburg senior Emalee Overbay stretches out for a rebound Friday during the Lady Cats’ season opener at Pittsburg High School. Overbay finished with seven rebounds in a 51-35 loss.

PITTSBURG – It went up against a bigger school on its home floor, but the Louisburg girls basketball team didn’t back down.

The Lady Cats traveled to Pittsburg for their home opener Friday and stayed with the Purple Dragons for much of the contest, but Pittsburg used a couple different runs to pull away for a 51-35 win over Louisburg.

Both teams got out and ran, especially in the first half, which made for a back-and-forth contest for much of the night.

“I liked it,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “At this point, with this being the first game out against a good 5A team who will probably win their league, I thought we did OK. This is a tough place to play. We work hard enough though that we can play any style of play.”

Louisburg made things difficult on Pittsburg early as it took a one-point lead when sophomore Carson Buffington got an offensive rebound put back to give the Lady Cats a 12-11 lead. Down 13-12 to start the second quarter, Paige Buffington connected on a 3-pointer to give Louisburg the lead right back.

The game was tied again with six minutes left in the second quarter when senior Madisen Simpson hit a jump shot to give Louisburg a two-point lead again. It was there where Pittsburg went on an 11-2 run toward the end of the first half.

Senior Tayler Lancaster knocked down a 3-pointer and Simpson hit a basket to cut the Pittsburg lead to four with 33 seconds left in the first half, but Louisburg could get no closer.

The Lady Cats had a chance to get back in the game at the free-throw line, but couldn’t convert as they were 5-for-17 for the game.

“I think Pittsburg might have been a little shocked that we were playing that tough early,” Lowry said. “We have a lot of stuff to shore up like free throws and stuff around the basket, but it is all fixable.

“You can’t leave free throws on the table, especially against a team like this. It also starts to build upon itself. If you aren’t hitting those, then the score starts to spread out a little bit, it starts to affect your other shooting too.”

Louisburg senior guard Tayler Lancaster finished the game with a team-high 11 points.

Lancaster led Louisburg in scoring with 11 points, while Paige Buffington and Simpson each finished with eight points.

Carson Buffington added seven points in the loss, but that wasn’t where she made the most impact. Carson pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds, eclipsing her previous high of 17 rebounds last season.

“Carson takes a great deal of pride in doing something that very few want to give the kind of effort that is required,” Lowry said.

Pittsburg’s Taylor Muff also proved to be a difficult matchup as the 5-foot-11 forward brought the ball up the floor, drove the basket and hit baskets from all over the floor. Muff, who has signed with Northern Colorado to play volleyball, is a state track champion.

Louisburg senior Emalee Overbay drew the challenge of guarding Muff for most of the night and did her job as she, and the rest of the Lady Cats, held her to 13 points.

“She is a really good player,” Lowry said of Muff. “She is one of the best players that we will get a chance to see this year. But I thought Emalee did a good job on her. Emalee is a good defender, she is physical and she limited her a little bit. I thought a lot of our individual efforts were good. Pittsburg has some good guards and I thought Madisen, Paige, Tayler and Isabelle (Holtzen) all did good things defensively.”

Pittsburg pulled away in the third quarter as it opened the frame on a 12-2 run and built a 15-point lead late. Louisburg struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the second half as it scored just 11 points in the two quarters combined.

“The first couple minutes of the second half was just a stalemate,” Lowry said. “Both teams were trying to find some rhythm in that first quarter and we just couldn’t. That is something we are going to have to fix. Last year, we weren’t a very good third quarter team and that is going to have to change. We have to play well in the third quarter. We can’t play a decent half and then come out flat.”

Louisburg will have a busy week ahead of itself this week as it competes in the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic in Burlington. The Lady Cats will play Burlington, the No. 4 in Class 4A-Division II, tonight and then face No. 8 Baldwin (4A-DII) on Tuesday. The tournament will wrap up with games Friday.

“It is going to be fun,” Lowry said of the tournament. “They have worked their tails off in practice and they are just happy to be on the court playing someone. We are going to be playing two ranked teams back to back in Burlington and Baldwin and the girls are ready to go play them. That is what I like about this group is they are tough kids.”

LOU               12           12           5             6 – 35

PITT               13           17           12           9 – 51

LOUISBURG (0-1): Tayler Lancaster 11, Madisen Simpson 8, Paige Buffington 8, Carson Buffington 7, Haley Cain 1. Totals: 12-55 5-17 35. 3-point field goals: 6, (Lancaster 3, P. Buffington 2, Simpson)

Louisburg’s Jayce Geiman is one of seven Wildcat seniors for the 2016-17 season, and those players will be looked upon to guide the team as they try and bounce back from a rough finish a year ago.

Once the final buzzer sounded on the 2015-16 season, members of Louisburg boys basketball team were ready to put it behind them.

It was a season that got off to such promise after the Wildcats won six of their first nine games, but it ended with 12 straight losses through a rugged Frontier League schedule. The players plan on using that experience to fuel them for the upcoming season that tips off Friday.

“Absolutely we learned from it,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “I think they learned how to deal with adversity, given how much existed. It would have been easy for them to hang their heads when the injuries came, or we ran in to a juggernaut of an opponent, but they learned from it and will use it as motivation this year.”

The Wildcats will feature a roster of predominantly upperclassmen, which includes seven seniors and two juniors that saw significant varsity minutes a season ago.

“This is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had a team dominated by upperclassmen and it has been fantastic thus far,” Nelson said. “It is through our upperclassmen that our entire program will evolve. They’ve demonstrated the right way to play, focused on becoming fundamentally sound and competed with one another in an effort to not only improve themselves, but also their brothers in the program.”

One of those players was considered among the best in the Frontier League a season ago in Grant Harding. The Wildcats senior returns after he earned second team all-league honors, and was also named to the honorable mention all-state team after he averaged 16 points and eight rebounds a game last year.

Harding will play a key role in the Wildcats’ offense this season as fellow seniors Sam Guetterman, Jayce Geiman, T.J. Dover and junior Dalton Ribordy will start along with him to begin the season.

“(Grant) wants to be one of the best to have played at Louisburg High School and knows how much dedication it takes,” Nelson said. “He’s definitely stepped up his training over the summer working on his few areas for improvement. He’s vital to our team success, not just as a scoring threat, but also defensively and distributing the ball and making those around him better.

“This group loves to play together, the coaches love to coach them and while Grant will be counted on, it will be no different than in past years. Our best games have always been when he, T.J., Sammy, Jayce, Jake (Hill) and others have been working as one.”

Louisburg senior Grant Harding returns this year after he averaged 16 points and eight rebounds a season ago as a second-team all-league player.

Although the Wildcats might not be as tall as some of their opponents, as Dover (6-foot-3, 250 pounds) and Ribordy (6-2, 200) will give them some scoring and rebounding options down low along with junior Garrett Lowry (6-4, 295).

Seniors Jake Hill, Dalton Stone, Alex Seuferling, along with juniors Ben Minster and Desmond Doles, will give the Wildcats a lot of production off the bench.

“This is the best our rotation has been in my time here, given that we have multiple ‘true’ posts,” Nelson said. “In past years, we’ve had to play guys out of position occasionally, but this year, with TJ back, Dalton ready to break out and Garrett Lowry evolving, we can finally have a front court and back court rotation which will further facilitate everything. With Grant, Sammy and Jayce, expected to play a lot, Jake, Ben, Dalton Stone, Desmond, and Alex will also fit in to our rotation as needed and all offer different strengths that we’ll look to exploit as we progress.”

It will be a tough schedule for the Wildcats as they compete in a tough Frontier League that includes four combined games against No. 4 Ottawa and No. 8 Eudora, who are both ranked in Class 4A-Division I.  Also in there are tough games against rival Paola, who qualified for the state tournament last season.

“Our league will once again be one of the best in the state,” Nelson said. “There’s not an easy game on the schedule, but that’s to the benefit of this group, especially the upperclassmen. They’ve seen it for 3-plus years and know the kind of dedication and talent it takes to do well in this league and look forward to the challenges it presents.”

Louisburg will tipoff its season Friday when it travels to Pittsburg for a 7:30 p.m. start. The Wildcats will then travel to Burlington next week for three games in the Wildcat-Bulldog Classic.

Louisburg’s Madisen Simpson is one of five seniors on the Lady Cats basketball team this season as those players look to lead Louisburg starting Friday when they travel to Pittsburg in their season opener.

The Louisburg High School girls basketball team took more than its fair share of lumps from a season ago.

Louisburg featured a lineup of underclassmen, with little varsity experience and low numbers forced a lot of freshmen and sophomores into big spots for the Lady Cats. All that equaled to just a three-win season, but this year they hope those experiences turn into positives.

The Lady Cats return all but one starter from a season ago, and with that, have a strong five-member senior class to help lead the way through what is a difficult Frontier League schedule.

“Last season was good from the perspective that this group never wavered from the process in how they prepared or what they gave in games,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “They have carried that same mentality into this preseason and it has shaped the team’s identity.”

That identity is a hard-working group that goes after every loose ball and rebound, finds themselves in the right spots on offense and is aggressive on defense.

It is the senior class of Madisen Simpson, Paige Buffington and Emalee Overbay that helped shape that identity a season ago and they have joined up with a pair of new seniors – Tayler Lancaster and Chloe Renner – to continue the same type of play.

All five seniors figure to play big minutes for the Lady Cats this season as Lancaster will join Simpson and Buffington at the guard spot, while Renner will help out Overbay in the post.

“Paige, Madisen and Emalee will have been in the program for all four years,” Lowry said. “They have each grown so much in that time and have really matured into good leaders. They embrace the process, they are great teammates and have a great deal of pride in their program.

“Chloe and Tayler are a great fit and have both made an immediate impact to our team by their work ethic and discipline in learning their offensive and defensive responsibilities.”

Sophomore Carson Buffington led the Frontier League in rebounding a season ago and looks to do the same this year.

The Lady Cats also return their top post player from last season in sophomore Carson Buffington. As a freshman, Buffington led the Frontier League with 11 rebounds a game, which earned her honorable mention all-league and all-state accolades.

Junior guard Isabelle Holtzen also figures to see playing time for the Lady Cats after logging several varsity minutes as a sophomore. That group of seven players could also expand as the season goes on.

“We should have a good rotation with those players,” Lowry said. “There are also some juniors, sophomores and freshmen that I expect to contribute in various roles this season.

“I would say our strengths at this point are our senior leadership, returning some experienced players that understand how we want to play and that our players are unselfish in everything they give.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Cats as it features a round robin with their fellow Frontier League teams, including state-ranked squads in No. 2 Paola (4A-Division I) and No. 8 Baldwin (4A-Division II).

However, the fact the Lady Cats return all but one starter from a season ago should help them navigate through some rough waters.

“It is definitely a positive to return most of the players in this year’s sophomore, junior and senior classes,” Lowry said. “We were able to get right into the core of our work and allowed for more intense competition.

“The Frontier League will again have some of the best 4A and 5A teams. In addition to a very strong league, we have the opportunity to play some non-conference and tournament games against some very good, ranked teams. With all this said, I trust in our players to give great effort and compete with great pride every time we take the floor against these teams.”

Louisburg opens its season Friday when it travels to Pittsburg for a 6 p.m. tipoff. It is a game the players have been waiting for since the end of last season.

“The girls have worked hard in preparing for the upcoming season,” Lowry said. “Our seniors have helped foster an environment that is competitive and positive with their work ethic and attitudes. As with each year, we stress the importance of competing hard on every rep and every play.

“The girls are always anxious to start playing games after the preseason conditioning work and three weeks of practice.”

Senior T.J. Dover goes up for a turnaround jumper during Louisburg’s intrasquad scrimmage July 15 on the final day of the Wildcats’ team camp. Louisburg will return six seniors that saw varsity time a season ago.

It has been a different kind of summer for the Louisburg boys basketball team.

Wildcat head coach Jason Nelson had taken his team to a summer league at Rockhurst in Kansas City, Mo., the last three seasons in order to work on their game and become more comfortable working together.

Nelson still wanted to stress that continuity, but decided to change things up a bit. He kept his team back in Louisburg and took part in scrimmages with Osawatomie High School along with open gym workouts.

“The summer league provided many opportunities for them to play to the expectations of the staff, however, this year we are fortunate enough to be able to focus on perfecting our program, and not our style of play, which is a testament to our boys progress,” Nelson said. “We played two controlled scrimmages against Osawatomie and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcomes.  We didn’t keep score, but really were able to focus on our half court sets and transition in a controlled atmosphere in which (Osawatomie) coach (Chris) Pitts and myself could stop and ‘coach’ when needed.

“Perhaps the best aspect of the scrimmages aside from our tangible improvements was that were able to play with many different rotations.”

Grant Harding drives the lane for a shot during the team’s final day of camp on July 15.

Those results of that offseason work came together for the Wildcat team camp. The camp, which started on July 11, brought the team together for five consecutive days in order to work on basics, but also to help bring along the younger players.

Nelson also brought back a couple Louisburg High Schools alums as former players David Embers and Garrett Griffin each attended the camp sessions to help out.

“First and foremost, camp provides a ‘bridge’ between middle school and high school for our incoming freshmen,” Nelson said. “It gives them the opportunity to see what our program is about, the dedication our older boys put into the program and that our ultimate goal is to be a credible team in one of, if not the best league in the state.  We focused more on fundamentals with the younger guys and the older guys worked on refining some of the things we need to do better this year.

“It was fantastic to have David and Garrett there to assist. The boys respect both of them and their presence lends itself to a program mentality, not just a team.”

The Wildcats have a senior-heavy roster for the upcoming season and that experience hopes to lend to a successful 2016-17 season. Senior Grant Harding, an all-Frontier League and all-state player, returns as the team’s top scorer.

Guards Jayce Geiman, Sam Guetterman, Jake Hill, Korbin Hankinson and forward T.J. Dover are the other seniors who hope to get Louisburg closer to the top of the league standings.

Louisburg got off to a good start last season as it won six of its first nine games, but struggled down the stretch as the Wildcats lost their remaining games to finish with a 6-15 record. Nelson hopes that rough stretch propelled his team to get better in the offseason.

“If adversity makes a group stronger, than this group of seniors ought to be the strongest in the state,” Nelson joked. “In all seriousness, I feel like this squad is far better in terms of both their individual and team skill set. They all went through the excruciating adversity last year and came to summer ready to improve and I couldn’t be happier or more proud of them.

“For the first time in my tenure, we have multiple kids playing AAU ball, working on their games individually when the time permits by shooting, dribbling, etc., and I feel some of this can be attributed to the roller coaster of emotions that last year provided.”