Tigercats return to the hardwood with two early losses

The new basketball season started off tough for the LaCrosse-Washtucna/Kahlotus Tigercats team last week as they began competition.

The Tigercats returned to the hardwood with a young team and a new coach on Friday, Dec. 12, against the Touchet Indians. The Tigercats were handed their first nonleague loss of the season with a final score of 18-62.

Head Coach Seth Weekes said the game started out with high intensity, but the Tigercats struggled to maintain the energy level to compete with Touchet. The Indians held the Tigercats scoreless in the first quarter and the Tigercats went into halftime trailing 2-25.

“We started out high energy, high intensity. We had really good defense for our first game, and for our first half of the game,” Weekes said.

Weekes said the team struggled offensively, as the team seemed lethargic on that end of the court and struggled to get good, open shots. He attributed the slow start of offense to a lack of varsity experience on the team, as well as it being the first game of the season.

Touchet proved to be an aggressive team and kept the Tigercats running the court. While the Indians did not have many break away points, Weekes said their athleticism wore out the Tigercats team.

The Tigercats relied heavily on Chance Rice to help start the offense and keep the team moving in a positive direction. Weekes said Rice has stepped up as a leader on the team, and as the athlete with the most varsity playing time, he leads by example on the court. Another athlete who has stepped to lead and is constantly improving on the court is Terrell Webb, Weekes said.

Rice scored half of the Tigercats’ points Friday night with nine total points. Jacob Johnson added five points to the Tigercats’ total. Cameron Ellis and Cole Evans each had two points.

The following night the Tigercats hosted Colton in Kahlotus with a similar outcome as the game prior. Colton ran away with a 60-14 league win over LWK.

The game started with tough defensive pressure from the Tigercats as they fought to contain Colton’s shooters and keep them out of the key. Their efforts fell short by the end of the quarter as Colton snuck out to a 21-4 lead.

Rice hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter to help swing the intensity back to the Tigercats, but they still struggled to set up the offense and go through the motions. Colton broke away in the second half, outscoring the Tigercats 22-2.

For the Tigercats, Rice continued to be the high scorer with seven points, while Ellis and Ramos each had three points.

Weekes said defense has been the priority in practice prior to the games, as he knew the team could excel at it, but they are changing their focus to being patient offensively.

In the upcoming games, Weekes is looking for the team to have more offensive movement and have better ball movement. He added the team is also working on building confidence and understanding their roles on the court. Weekes knows the early season losses are hard on the team, but he is constantly striving to keep the team positive.

“I’ve been there; it’s hard to sit back and watch the score just go and yours doesn’t move,” Weekes said.

“It took a lot of heart-to-heart meeting time to get them to understand it’s okay to lose, but you can’t just stay in the same spot and go backwards, you have to move forward.”

The Tigercats host St. John-Endicott in LaCrosse on Friday, Dec. 19, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. They face Liberty Christian on Saturday.