Cowgirls season ends in loss to Forest City

That’s the bad thing about the regional tournament…one loss knocks you out as you face the finality of the season. In the case of the Cowgirls, a very good season is suddenly over at the hands of Forest City in a 45-30 loss. The Cowgirls took a 15-10 lead into the second quarter, only to see the Indians outscore them 14 points to two to go up 24-17 at the break.

“I thought we came out with confidence and had a nice first quarter,” said head coach Liz Ennis. “Forest City then adjusted their defense in the second period and shut us down a bit on offense. We were very much outrebounded, and both Morgan and Jadyn picked up three fouls before halftime, which hurt us defensively. We made some adjustments ourselves on defense, but their offense ran through two girls and we were just unable to stop them.”

The team shot 27.9 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the charity line and 22.2 percent from beyond the arc. They had 30 total rebounds (17 on defense), nine total assists, six total steals and two blocked shots. Raven Kinnetz scored nine points with two treys, Lexie Lane seven points with two treys and Jadyn Jondle six points. Morgan Middleton added four points and both Kendall Lienemann and Alaina Friesleben two points each.

Jondle managed six rebounds, followed by Emma Keller with five and both Kinnetz and Lane with four each. Midddleton grabbed three caroms, Lienemann two and Nicole Waters, Emma Conlon, Friesleben, Delia Swanson, Summer Traub and Sawyer Morrical all one each.

Jondle dished the ball for three assists, with Kinnetz making two and Lienemann, Lane, Middleton and Friesleben all one each. Kinnetz picked off two steals, with Jondle, Lienemann, Lane and Friesleben all chipping in one apiece. Jondle added two blocked shots to her final line.

“This was a tough loss,” said Ennis. “Things just never clicked for us after the first quarter. There was frustration with their heavy pressure defense. We just never got used to the contact, as it took us out of our comfort zone. It’s always hard to end the season and I think these girls had higher expectations, obviously, than what we showed in this game. But we had a great season, and so I don’t want this one game to define our season. We as coaches had so much fun with a great group of kids. More than just talented basketball players and athletes, these young ladies are great people with great character and they don’t ever need to hang their heads about that!”

The team bows out of the tournament with a 17-5 final record.

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