MORAN — For three quarters of a hard-fought game against the Chetopa Hornets, all it took was one for the Lady Wildcats to fall short Tuesday night. Chetopa 10-8-8-23—49
The Wildcats lost the contest 49-36, after holding close to their opponent for the majority of the game. Coach Gavin Cole said he was impressed to see some offensive prowess from a team that has struggled to score throughout the season.
“We haven’t scored 36 points very much this season,” Cole said following the game. “If you had told me we’d scored that much before the game, I would have told you we could hold them (Chetopa) to a lower score than that.”
But, alas, that was not the case.
Chetopa stung first on the Wildcats, before Kaitlin Ensminger hit a few charities. Ashlynn Pinkerton hit a jumper, then Ensminger contributed another to put the Wildcats within four, 10-6, going into the second.
The Hornets tried a full-court press on their opponent, in an effort to slow them down. It didn’t seem to work. Misty Storrer and Kyla Drake led a comeback with a jumper from Drake, Storrer scored on an and-one play and hit the free throw. Drake sunk another long jumper at the 2:42 mark to tie the game at 13 all.
Chetopa’s Cambri Conard capitalized on a couple of Wildcat fouls from the free throw line, and put another in from the paint, to put the Hornets up 18-13. Ensminger responded with a quick jumper at the buzzer to cut the deficit to three going into the half.
The Wildcats didn’t know it, but their troubles had already begun to mount by the beginning of the third. Foul trouble had Chetopa making frequent visits to the line, while several Marmaton Valley players were seeing high foul numbers. The Hornets had 20 points from the foul line in the game.
“It certainly didn’t help to have two of our seniors (Ensminger and Meiwes) in foul trouble,” Cole said.
The Wildcats held the Hornets close in the third yet again, with key contributions from Brooklynn Newman, Storrer, Drake and Ensminger. They went into the fourth facing a 26-25 deficit.
In the fourth, however, the Wildcats’ troubles caught up with them. Ensminger fouled out midway through the third, and the Hornets capitalized with a stifling offensive run from Conard and Kayla Underwood.
Ensminger had the high score for Marmaton Valley with 12 points, followed by Storrer and Drake with seven a piece. Underwood led the Hornets with 16 points on the contest.
Cole said the fouls from his team, coupled with abysmal free throw shooting — they hit 6 for 20 — resulted in the loss in the long run.
The Wildcats face off against Pleasanton at home Friday for their homecoming game.
Marmaton Valley 6-9-10-11—36
Chetopa (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Clayborn 0-0-3-0, Underwood 3/1-7-4-16, Johnson 4-2-3-10, Kepner 1-0-1-2, Conard 5-11-5-21, Whetstone 0-0-2-0. TOTALS 13/1-20-18-49.
Marmaton Valley (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Ensminger 5-2-5-12, Pinkerton 2-1-1-5, Stevenson 0-0-3-0, Storrer 3-1-2-7, Drake 3-1-3-7, Meiwes 1-0-5-2, Newman 1-1-0-3. TOTALS: 15-6-19-36.
Chetopa pulls away late to top MV
