Lady T-cats prep for College Place, look to earn second league win

The Lady Tigercats had three tough outings last week, matching up against three of the top teams in the league. After facing losses to Liberty Christian, Pomeroy and Touchet, the Lady Tigercats are gearing up to face College Place for the second time on Jan. 14.

The team earned their sole win against College Place earlier this season and are working to ensure they can earn another one on Wednesday. The young team has battled against more experienced teams all season, but has a better balance and match up against the freshmen team from College Place.

The Lady Tigercats faced Liberty Christian on Jan. 6 and suffered a 62-31 defeat. While the LWK team had a slow start scoring only five points in the first quarter, they slowly improved throughout the night to put up points against Liberty Christian.

The LWK team has been battling to break full court presses all season, and the tough defense early in the game is a battle the team is still trying to win. The team is also working on becoming more consistent scorers and spreading the points between athletes instead of relying on one athlete to carry the team.

The Lady Tigercats went into halftime trailing Liberty Christian 38-16. They managed to use defensive pressure to contain Liberty Christian in the second half to have a more balanced game.

The LWK team had multiple athletes get on the board for scoring on Tuesday night. Jazlynn Webb led the team offensively scoring 11 points. Alynn Harder had six points, Jazzmyn Gordon had five, Jadyn Guske scored three, Brittany Gordon had three points, and Jessica Guske scored two points.

Friday night the team traveled to Pomeroy and returned home with a tough loss of 51-8.

Pomeroy shut the Lady Tigercats down on offense, only allowing the LWK team nine shots in the first quarter. The Lady Tigercats struggled to get points on the board throughout the game, and were held scoreless in the third quarter.

The Lady Tigercats are continually looking to improve offensively by using ball movement to get better looks at the hoop.

They rely on their post players to use their strength low to put up points, but have trouble when the intensity of the opponent outdoes their own aggression.

Harder led the Lady Tigercats in scoring with four points, while Jadyn Guske added three points. Jazzmyn Gordon hit one free throw for the team.

The Lady Tigercats rounded out the week hosting Touchet, and battling late in the game to bring the score to 26-51.

Touchet heavily outscored the Lady Tigercats in the first half, 33-7, but the LWK team returned to the court in the third quarter to battle back against Touchet. The LWK team outscored Touchet 16-13 in the third quarter.

With Touchet’s primary player Cierra McKeown putting up 27 points in the game, LWK relied on Webb for her quickness and expert defense in the second half to reduce McKeown’s looks at the basket. Webb played intensive defense, helping her team narrow the scoring gap in the second half.

On the other end of the court, Jazzmyn Gordon stepped up to lead the Lady Tigercats with 13 points.

Webb added five points to the board, while Harder had four points. Nicole Harder scored two points for the Lady Tigercats.