Lady Hornets falter in first district game
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

In a defensive struggle, the Lady Hornets fell 38-17 to Flatonia and started district 0-1.

Despite the disappointing outcome, Head Coach Bryan Branch said his team was likely only a few plays away from winning.

"If we make five more buckets, then we win that game fairly easily," Branch said. "It's a good sign that we're not so down-trodden because I know we can shoot better than we did. At the same time, it's disappointing to just let one slip away, especially in district. With only six games in district, they're all really important."

After a tough start in the first half, Louise fell into a difficult hole.

Flatonia outscored the Lady Hornets 11-7 in the first and 10-6 in the second quarter to take a 21-13 lead at halftime.

Good opportunities turned into missed shots in the second half and Flatonia went on to win 38-17.

It was a strange outing for the Lady Hornets, who show wins over larger schools by a great margin. The offense had struggles that did not occur as often earlier in the season.

"Defensively, we did everything right to win that game, it's just offensively, we struggled," Branch said. "I asked my assistant coach, 'Is this the same team that scored 60-something against Danbury?' It was the same shots, we were just missing them."

Branch said the team being only a few plays away from a win could help the Lady Hornets refocus and even catch a winning streak.

"I know the girls are disappointed," he said. "I actually think they're a little more confident, (thinking) 'Hey, that's not so bad. If we just make a few shots, we're OK.' We're going to go back to the drawing board and do a lot of shooting. We'll play Moulton, who's going to be tough. Hopefully, we'll get better from there and then we get Shiner."

Louise hosted Moulton late Friday night and will travel to Shiner Tuesday.

"I still think we can win at least three games in district," Branch said. "We beat Shiner twice and then Flatonia once and that puts us right in the mix. Maybe we can sneak one from Moulton. I think if we make our shots, we can hang with them."

LHS GIRLS STATS

Flatonia 38, Louise 17

	1st 2nd 3rd			4th	F
FL	11	10	9	9	- 38
LH	7	6	4	0	- 17

LHS Leaders

POINTS - Katie Brown 6, Gabby Foster 4, Amber Bain 4, Kirsten Machicek 3

REBOUNDS - Brown 6, Machicek 4, Bain 4, Kelsi Kutac 2, Nicole Roades 2

STEALS - Bain 3, Roades 2

ASSISTS - Lauren Gresham 1, Machicek 1