Lady Tigercats conclude regular season in LaCrosse

The Lady Tigercats’ season came to an end in LaCrosse on Friday after a league loss to Garfield-Palouse. The LWK team finished behind Gar-Pal in the bottom of the league, after only earning nonleague wins this season. Without any league wins, the Lady Tigercats did not receive the opportunity to compete at districts.

The team started out their week against Oakesdale on Feb. 2 where they faced a 32-61 loss against the Lady Nighthawks.

The Lady Tigercats came out strong in the first quarter, and Head Coach Jeff Gates said the team executed well on both ends of the court. At the end of the quarter, the Lady Nighthawks only had a four-point advantage over the LWK team.

Gates said the strong first quarter performance relied heavily on Nicole Harder, who worked hard defensively to limit Oakesdale’s leading scorer Jacey Johnson’s scoring opportunities. Harder held Johnson scoreless throughout the first quarter and halfway through the second before Johnson broke the defensive pressure.

Oakesdale pressured the Lady Tigercats at the perimeter and forced 29 turnovers during the game. Gates said the steals led to breakaway points for Oakesdale, and the Lady Tigercats found themselves trailing by 18 going into halftime.

The Lady Nighthawks sudden lead caused the Lady Tigercats to panic and force unnecessary or unprepared shots, Gates said. When the LWK team calmed, they were able to make some plays and work through the offense, Gates added.

While the Lady Tigercats had opportunities on put-back points and drives to the hoop, Gates said the team still struggled with having the shots fall.

While the Lady Tigercats struggled to control possession, Gates said the team did not allow the turnovers to come easily and remained aggressive at the ball. On the press break, the Lady Tigercats improved by seeing the floor well and looking to the right spot, but unfortunately some of the passes were not executed correctly, Gates said.

Gates said he is impressed with the young Lady Tigercats team by not just going through the motions of a press break, but taking the time to see the court and calculate the pass. He added it is one of the largest improvements the team has made this season.

After a tough game of playing man defense, Gates said fatigue began to play a factor in the Lady Tigercats’ performance. Both teams had a low scoring fourth quarter, as many players came off the bench for an opportunity to receive court time.

Alynn Harder led the Lady Tigercats in scoring with 11 points. Nicole Harder and Autumn Meyers added six points each, followed by Jadyn Guske with five. Jazzmyn Gordon rounded out the scoring with four.

The Lady Tigercats hosted Garfield-Palouse for the final game of the season, and ended the league game with a 32-55 loss.

Gates said both teams knew they did not have an opportunity to compete in Districts, and it proved to be an interesting match up. The team had an opportunity to try out new plays against Gar-Pal, since this served as the third time the teams played each other this season.

The game started out slow for the Lady Tigercats who missed easy shots at the hoop and remained scoreless going into the second quarter. Gates attributed the missed shots to a lack of experience for the young team, as well as not facing game quality competition during practices.

The Lady Tigercats also ran into foul trouble during the second half. Guske fouled out in the third, before Nicole Harder was benched in the fourth quarter because of four fouls.

This led to putting in a lot of the younger athletes, and the Lady Tigercats went on a scoring run halfway through the fourth quarter. Alynn Harder began the streak by sinking a 3-pointer, and the intensity sparked from there.

Gordon drove to the hoop and added two more points for the team. The next time down the court, Alicia Stanaway hit a two-point shot for the Lady Tigercats.

Gates said the team impressed him with their performance and tenacity throughout the game. During the previous two games against Gar-Pal, the Lady Vikings had won by nearly 50 points. The fact the Lady Tigercats played tough throughout and made it only a 20-point game proved their improvement this season, Gates said.

Alynn Harder led the team in scoring with 14 points, followed by Gordon with 11. Meyers had three points, and Jazlynn Webb and Stanaway each had two.

“From where we started, I was very impressed with how we finished,” Gates said.

Gates said with a young team, he is confident the team could improve on their success next season. With only Webb graduating this season, the Lady Tigercats have an opportunity to return nearly the whole team to the court.

In order to help the team improve on fundamentals, Gates hopes to have multiple athletes compete in summer league basketball. He is also looking forward to the opportunity to coach the team next season, and break the Lady Tigercats league-losing streak.

Gates said Waitsburg and Prescott are expected to join the league next season, and provide the Lady Tigercats with a chance to rack up league wins and increase the interest in the program.