Lady Tigercats earn win by defeating College Place

The LaCrosse-Washtucna/Kahlotus Lady Tigercats recorded their first season win last week with a win in a nonleague game against College Place. The Lady Tigercats faced College Place on Jan. 12, before matching up against Garfield-Palouse and Colton over the weekend.

The Lady Tigercats earned the win, defeating College Place 39-29. The low scoring game proved to be a good match up for the two teams. Head Coach Jeff Gates said the LWK team outperformed the Lady Hawks significantly and could have made the scoring margin wider if the team had more shots fall.

“We started to run our offense and not be nervous,” Gates said about the team’s performance. “We executed, and that was the big thing.”

After a close matched first half, the Lady Tigercats came out strong in the third quarter to put the team up by around eight points. The team continued to expand their lead in the fourth quarter and maintained a consistent 10-point lead.

While the Lady Tigercats struggled with getting short shots to fall and making solid inbound passes, Gates said the girls stepped up their intensity and battled on the court. The LWK team did not press during the game, partially because of early foul trouble with Nicole Harder, their key defender.

Gates said the team focused on executing on offense and making solid passes.

Defensively, the team did not have mental breakdowns and denied the pass into the post well, Gates said.

During the game, Gates stated the success began to build upon itself and the Lady Tigercats continued to gain confidence. The team began to work the ball into the key more and executed the offense efficiently, which proved to be a valuable lesson for the team.

Though the team enjoyed the win, Gates said it was frustrating that the team could not get shots to fall. The Lady Tigercats were not accustomed with having the lead during a game, and it led to forced shots in the fourth quarter as the team felt they had more flexibility and opportunities to take different shots.

Overall, Gates said the win proved to be a good learning experience for the Lady Tigercats. The group played well as a team and two athletes stepped up to earn a double-double for the Lady Tigercats.

Jazzmyn Gordon had one of her strongest games of the year recording 16 points and 25 rebounds for the Lady Tigercats. Gates said Gordon was a beast on the boards and helped maintain the team’s intensity throughout the game.

Freshman Alynn Harder also recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Tigercats was Jadyn Guske with six points, Nicole Harder with four and Jazlynn Webb with one point.

On Friday night, after coming off of the College Place win, the Lady Tigercats took the court against league opponent, the Garfield-Palouse Lady Vikings. The LWK team ended the game with a 17-60 loss to the Lady Vikings.

After the win against College Place, Gates had anticipated the team to begin the Garfield-Palouse game with intensity and confidence.

The team had prepared to match up with the Lady Vikings all week in practice, but Gates said once the game began, the team slowly began to unravel.

Gates said the game proved to be frustrating for the athletes and the coaches. He had anticipated for it to be a competitive game, but he said the team was nervous from the start and never ran through the full offense.

Garfield-Palouse played pressure defense outside the perimeter, and Gates said the Lady Tigercats had multiple opportunities to get past their defenders but they did a poor job using screens or seeing the floor.

“We had a lot of lapses and we didn’t do a good job of denying the ball inside,” Gates said about the LWK defense.

Gates said the team also struggled with confusion when new subs came into the game. While the Lady Tigercats played a man defense, communication was lacking and Garfield-Palouse got open looks at the hoop.

The second quarter proved to be the most successful for the Lady Tigercats, but halftime adjustments and key shots by Lady Vikings’ athletes increased Garfield-Palouse’s lead in the second half.

The team had multiple looks at the hoop, but Gates said the team could not execute the offense. Even after calling timeouts and setting up a play, the Lady Tigercats returned to the court and failed to convert the intended play.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigercats played many of their second string athletes for experience. Gates said the group struggled to get the offense going against the opposing varsity team and Garfield-Palouse held the team scoreless in the fourth.

Nicole Harder led the team in scoring with seven points, followed by Webb with four points. Alynn Harder added three points, and Guske put up two. Gordon hit a single free throw.

On Saturday night, the Lady Tigercats hosted the league’s top ranked team, the Colton Lady Wildcats.

The two teams matched up earlier in the year where the Lady Wildcats won by nearly 80 points, but in the second match up, the Lady Tigercats showed their improvement with a final score of 8-65.

While the outcome of the game lay heavily in favor of Colton, Gates said he was proud of the Lady Tigercats performance against the defending state champions.

The LWK team minimized turnovers and successfully broke down the Lady Wildcats press, but could not get the offensive looks they wanted.

Gates explained any time veteran and novice teams match up, it can prove to be a landslide victory for the more experienced team. Colton is a strong defensive team, and it showed the Lady Tigercats needed to make strides to improve offensively.

The Lady Tigercats managed to break down the press, but unfortunately it left them with limited time on the shot clock, producing hurried shots from the LWK athletes. Even in the second half without the press, Colton did a good job of taking away the Lady Tigercats’ shots, Gates said, but the LWK team refused to give up.

Gates said the Lady Tigercats remained motivated, focused and hustled throughout the entire game. They played hard and executed better on defense than the past game.

Alynn Harder stepped up to lead the Lady Tigercats through a strong effort on both ends of the court.

Gates said she picked up the intensity, played well and battled for offense boards, earning multiple points on put back baskets. She led the team in scoring with four points.

Nicole Harder and Gordon each had two points for the Lady Tigercats.

The team has four games within a week, first matching up against Garfield-Palouse in a nonleague game, before facing Lewiston, Touchet and Pomeroy.

The Lady Tigercats host Touchet in Kahlotus on Friday, with tip-off at 6 p.m.