Lady Tigers end conference play

The Lady Tigers continued in conference play on Tuesday, taking on Hartington-Newcastle, then facing Laurel-Concord-Coleridge on Friday.

Hartington-Newcastle Game

LAUREL — The Lady Tigers hit the road again to Laurel on Tuesday, Feb. 2, to take on the Wildcats of Hartington-Newcastle (HNS) in Round 2 of the conference tournament.

From the first time Osmond played HNS to now, the girls felt like they had definitely improved and put themselves in a good position to win the game. This game provided a different challenge, however.

The Lady Tigers were down one of their starters, but they have employed a “next one up” mindset which allowed for opportunities for others to step up.

Osmond competed neck-and-neck with HNS throughout the first half, going into halftime down three points. During practice leading up to the HNS game, the team had practiced ways to defend their pick-and-roll game and the girls executed this quite well, taking the Wildcats out of their primary game plan.

Coming out of halftime, the Lady Tigers exploded for 13 points, outscoring the Wildcats 13-5 in the third quarter to erase the halftime deficit and take a five-point lead into the fourth quarter.

However, in the fourth quarter, the girls were unable to sustain their lead and HNS erased the five-point deficit, winning the fourth quarter 12-5 and the game 43-41.

"I was really proud of our collective team for stepping up, executing the things we had practiced and competing," said Coach David Schmit. "Ultimately, we weren’t able to lock down on a couple possessions late in the game on the defense and that was the difference in the game."

Leading scorers for the Lady Tigers were Macy Aschoff and Kiera Moes, both with 11. Leading rebounders were Macy Aschoff with 11 and Kiera Moes with 8.

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge

HARTINGTON — The Lady Tigers advanced to the bracket consolation game against the Bears of LCC on Friday, Feb. 5.

Having played LCC to an overtime affair just a week before, the team felt confident that if they were able to execute the little things (taking care of the ball, smart passes, and rebounding) that they may be able to come out on top.

Once again, Osmond's pick-and-roll defense was challenged and the girls were up for it. LCC had looked to get Osmond in mismatches in the low post and the Lady Tigers handled that fairly well throughout the first half and some of the second.

Osmond went into halftime ahead 27-20 in large part as a result of some lockdown defense in the second quarter. However, the second half the trajectory of the game changed against Osmond and LCC held the girls to 15 second-half points to their 33.

"One thing we wanted to do is cut down on our turnovers this game and we didn’t get that part of things done, which led to extra possessions and points for LCC," Schmit said. "While this game didn’t go at all how we had hoped, we have two regular season games left to play and use as opportunities to clean up mistakes and be ready for subdistricts which start on Feb. 15."

Leading scorers for the Lady Tigers were Kiera Moes (15) and Cali Gutz (10). Leading rebounder for the Lady Tigers was Kiera Moes (7), followed by Cali Gutz and Macy Aschoff, both with 5.

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