Following back-to-back losses, Fred Morris needed his Louisville Lady Wildcats to respond in Class 4A, Region 4 play last week.
Respond they did with two wins over Kosciusko and West Lauderdale, but a Saturday loss to Noxubee County left the coach with some frustrations.
“We were up and down. This time of year, you should be peaking and most nights we just don’t show up from a mental standpoint ready to play,” Morris said. “It takes us two or three quarters to realize we’re in a ball game and some other players are going to have to step up and help Aryanna. We’ve got to get more help from our players to give ourselves a chance.”
The Lady Wildcats (10-4, 6-2 Region 4) knocked off the Lady Whippets of Kosciusko 57-41 to begin the week and got the season sweep over the visitors. Areyanna Hunter had a game-high 21 points while fellow senior Kiersten Ball finished with 12.
Hunter nearly outscored West Lauderdale on her own in the second game of the week as the Dandy Dozen star knocked down 30 points in a54-34 victory. Jacylin Houston had 12 points.
With Ball out of each of the last two games as well as two other players due to what Morris termed “disciplinary action”, the Lady Wildcats ran into a buzzsaw at Noxubee County over the weekend. The Lady Tigers jumped out to a big lead in the first half and LHS was never able to recover in a tough 59-57 loss.
Areyanna Hunter again led the way with 25 points and her sister, Aniyah, had 13 but there wasn’t enough production beyond that with just three other players scoring points.
“We got off the bus not ready to play. We were down at halftime by 18 points and had to battle back,” Morris said. “Decision making with the ball at the end wasn’t there. Second chance shots and turnovers hurt us early. On the road you get down and have to battle back and we weren’t at full strength. We only had six players that we could count on. We battled back and played hard but it was an uphill battle.”
District play continues this week with a Tuesday road game at Leake Central before LHS hosts division leader Choctaw Central in the final regular season home game on Friday. The Lady Wildcats finish the season at Canton on Saturday.
Boys
The Wildcats also had a 2-1 week last week as they bounced back from another tough loss to Kosciusko.
Having lost to the Whippets already earlier this year by one point, LHS again had a close game in which it came up short as Kosciusko outlasted them to win 62-57. In all five Region 4 losses this season, LHS has lost by single digits as close games have just not gone the team’s way.
That did change against West Lauderdale, however, as the Wildcats avenged a 53-46 loss to the Knights from last month by winning 59-58 and earning the team’s third Region 4 win of the season. The Wildcats finished the week with a 74-65 win over Noxubee County.
Going into this week’s slate of games, LHS has a record of4-9 and 3-5 in district play.
