Offensive struggle results in back to back losses for the Lady Bulldogs
By Laura Giammattei
BOYCEVILLE — The Lady Bulldogs had a tough week last week, as they fell to both the Cadott Hornets and the Durand Panthers.
First, the girls hit the road on Tuesday, January 19, where they endured a very narrow two-bucket defeat (58-54) to the Cadott Hornets.
The Bulldogs had an active offensive first half and managed to fend the Bulldogs off the net enough to emerge ahead 28-22 at halftime. However, the Hornets came into the second half with renewed energy and soon found themselves in the lead.
Despite strong offensive production from junior Madysn Riek, who was the top scorer of both teams with 22 points, the remaining Bulldog athletes struggled to capitalize on many of their shot opportunities throughout the game and their overall performance came up flat.
On the defensive end, the Bulldogs got into early foul trouble and, as a result, gave up seven points in the first half alone. In the late stages of the second half, they continued to foul and Cadott added another ten points from the free throw line.
Though the Bulldogs made some key mistakes and struggled offensively, the score remained very close throughout the match. However, a strong offensive push from Cadott and one too many fouls by Boyceville led to an end result in Cadott’s favor.
The Bulldogs’ second of two games was held in Boyceville on Thursday, January 21 against the Durand Panthers, where the ladies suffered a 40-25 loss.
Defensively, the girls fared much better than in their previous game against Cadott, but again they continued to struggle on the offensive end of the court. Senior Marki Lagerstrom led offensive production for the Bulldogs with nine points, most of which were produced in the second half. A usual high scorer for the Bulldogs, Madysn Reik, scored just six total points, well below her average 13.6 points per game this season.
On the other end of the court, the Durand Panthers had trouble breaking down the Bulldogs’ defense early in the game and came up with just sixteen points in the first half. However, they managed to break past the defense more quickly in the second half and came up with almost as many points in the second half as the Bulldogs scored the whole game.
Durand junior Ambree Schlosser could not be stopped as she led the Panthers on offense with a total of 19 points. She shot well near the basket in both halves and also connected on six of her seven opportunities at the free throw line.
Boyceville head coach, Jolene Bird, reflected on both games last week: “In Cadott, we just played flat and got out-hustled and outworked. The girls played well defensively against Durand, but again our Achilles heel was the offensive end of the floor. We didn’t have great looks the first half and in the second we were unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities.”
The Lady Bulldogs moved on from their losses last week to begin this week with an away game in Spring Valley on Tuesday, January 26. From there, they will travel to Colfax to take on the Vikings on Friday evening, January 29.