by Angie Daly
Last Thursday, night the Lady Mustangs traveled to Walden to take on the North Park Lady Cats. This was a rematch of the second game of the season that went into overtime with the Lady Mustangs losing a nail biter. This game was no different. Both teams came out fighting and after some strong defensive play in the first quarter the Mustangs found themselves up by just three, 10 – 7. The second quarter proved to be a physical matchup with the Mustangs finding themselves in some foul trouble. They trailed the Cats 22 – 25. The Mustangs benefited by a strong defense performance by Sage Lechman who was also helping on the offensive side of the ballgame as well.
The second half was filled with ups and downs. The evenly matched teams kept fighting all the way to the end and the score was knotted up at the end of the game, taking us to overtime again. The biggest difference in the game came down to free throws. The Lady Cats went to the line 41 times, making 27 of them. The Mustangs only made it to the line 12 times making 5. With Alex Schake fouling out of the game at the start of overtime and some whistles being swallowed at the end of the game this was a tough loss to take. The Mustangs lost the game 58 to 59. Sage Lechman led all scoring for the Mustangs with 15 points followed by Allie Daly with 12 and Emma Daly 10. This was a total team effort and the Lady Mustangs fought hard to the end and should be very proud of how they played.
Saturday the Lady Mustangs ended their season with a game against the Hotchkiss Bulldogs. The Lady Mustangs came out firing on all cylinders to take an early lead in this league matchup of 13 to 10 at the end of the first quarter. The Mustangs took advantage of some great passing and a strong inside game to start but failed to score in the first five minutes of the second quarter only scoring 5 points and found themselves down by four at the halfway point. Hotchkiss came out with some pressure in the third quarter and with several players in foul trouble the Mustangs had a difficult time getting back into rhythm in the third and fourth quarters. Foul trouble again plagued the Mustangs sending the Bulldogs to the line for 32 free throws while we only got to the line 11 times during the game. Three starters fouled out throughout the fourth quarter and the Mustangs got some solid play from their bench, but it was not enough to catch up to the Hotchkiss Bulldogs who have found themselves a spot in the state tournament starting this week. Sage Lechman and Allie Daly were the leading scorers with 8 points each followed by Alex Schake with 7. Emma Daly, Probst, and Castillo finished out the score with 4 points each.
While their overall record does not show with this team they continued to fight in every game and give their all. The last four games of the season this team really started to come together and show some promise. This year has been challenging but week in and week out they continued to work to get better with every game. There are bright days ahead for the Lady Mustangs!
