ALTAMONT — Eating their first loss in SEK League play on Thursday night, the Labette County Grizzlies girls fell to the Fort Scott Tigers, 53-44.
Labette County’s offense was woefully inefficient despite the Grizzlies’ defense living up to its reputation — the Grizzlies were 1-of-16 from behind the arc and 5-of-20 on free throws.
“We didn’t adjust and they took us out of our comfort zone in every aspect,” Labette County head coach Brianna Volmer said. “You can’t win a whole lot of games when you shoot 25% from the free throw line. To take that many shots and not convert — to have that many opportunities and not convert, we’re not going to win. That’s what lost us the game.”
Landry O’Brien, the scoring leader for the Grizzlies, scored 10 points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
“We got down early and didn’t like the pace of the game,” Volmer said. “We took some risks and that got her into hurry-up mode. Landry is a confident player. She just didn’t have it tonight. But she’ll bounce back. She’ll be fantastic. We rely on Landry and has a ton on her shoulders. She’ll wear this game and move past it.”
Labette County’s identity — keeping teams honest with outside shooting, converting free throws at a decent clip — simply lacked against Fort Scott.
“It was our mentality,” Volmer said. “We talked about what our mindset will be after tonight. We’ve got to have confidence in ourselves that we’ll knock down free throws and open shots. Those come down to the little things.”
Aubrey Boss led Labette County with 12 points.
On Friday, the Grizzlies bounced back with a 56-30 road drubbing of Independence.
Amelia Carnahan paced the Grizzlies with 13 points while O’Brien added 10.
“We’re proud of our bounce back and our faith in ourselves as basketball players,” Volmer said. “We found our stride and looked a lot more confident and comfortable in our offense sets. We also converted more buckets in transition. Thank goodness.”
The two games moved Labette County’s record to 13-2 overall and 6-1 in SEK League play.
With Coffeyville’s surprising loss to Pittsburg on Friday, Labette County and Fort Scott are the two teams tied atop the league standings.
“I have confidence in our team,” Volmer said. “Now it’s 0-0. The race is reset. We’ll go get some wins and be a scary team because we don’t like what this loss feels like. Fort Scott is a great team. But we want to control our own destiny. We just have to win games and make shots.”
