THERMOPOLIS – The Bobcats and Lady Bobcats competed in the Lander and Douglas Classics over the frigid weekend. For each team it was their first look at 3A competition and while the scoreboard often didn't favor them. The teams picked up valuable experience and know exactly what to work on during the Christmas break.

Lady Bobcats

The Lady 'Cats played a game Friday night against Lander then two on Saturday versus Lovell and Riverton during the Douglas Classic.

The first two games for Thermopolis were lopsided losses, losing 55-31 to Lander and 45-28 to Lovell.

Unlike last week the 3-ball was not falling for Thermopolis and against Lander they were 2-24 from beyond the arc. The team did take care of the ball by only committing 13 turnovers and forcing 26. What hurt the Lady 'Cats was their lack of rebounding, they only pulled down 24 total rebounds, 10 offensive and 14 defensive, compared to Lander's 54, 16 offensive and 38 defensive.

"Not a pretty game for us, our only real positive was taking care of the ball. We only had 13 turnovers. Lander struggled with 26 turnovers, some forced by us and some unforced," said HSCHS girls basketball coach Cory Sova. "Our shooting was atrocious, although a few shots rimmed in and out. We also struggled with rebounding and must learn to block out every time or good teams will capitalize when we don't."

For the game Korey Smith led the way in scoring with 12 and the team's next leading scorer was Lizzy Lofink with five. Jules Ward filled up the stats with two points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists.

The Lovell game was a 45-28 loss but looking at the numbers the Lady 'Cats had positives going for them. They beat Lovell 19 to 7 on the offensive boards and 37 to 33 in total rebounds. Won the turnover battle 16-21 and shot 9 of 12 from the free throw line.

The one crucial stat the hurt Thermopolis was their field goal and 3-point percentage as they were 5 of 32 and 3 of 22 respectively.

"Another miserable shooting game," said coach Sova, "We got a lot of shots because of good offensive rebounding, eight different girls had at least one, and won the turnover battle. We will continue to work on shooting skills. The girls are struggling now but are capable of shooting much better, I am confident it will come they are quite a resilient group."

The resiliency of this Thermopolis team showed in their final game before the Christmas break against Riverton as they pulled out a 37-28 victory.

Relying on their defense the Lady 'Cats held Riverton to 8 of 25 from the field and 1 of 9 from 3-point. The team won the turnover battle again 15 to 19 and only lost rebounding by one, 36 to 35.

Smith lead the team in scoring with 12 points, Makayla George was just short of a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds, which was tied for a team high with Ward.

"Good win for our girls, a little better shooting performance. We dominated the game defensively, we did put them on the free-throw line too many times so we will have to clean this up. The girls moved the ball well on offense, they are executing quite well, just missing too many shots including uncontested layups and short shots," said coach Sova.

During the break the Lady 'Cats will keep working on the fundamentals in preparation for the Big Horn Basin Basketball Fest Tournament starting on Jan. 5.

"The girls will continue to work on fundamentals throughout the break but will take a week off covering both sides of Christmas. They will be excited and ready to go after the extended break," said coach Sova.

Bobcats

The Thermopolis boys basketball team had a rough go of it at the Lander Classic Dec. 16 and 17. To start with they lost to the WyoPreps No. 1-ranked 3A team the Riverton Wolverines 78-42, then dropped their next game to WyoPreps No. 5-ranked 2A team the Lovell Bulldogs 57-38 and in the final game against WyoPreps No. 3-ranked 3A team the Cody Broncs lost 69-39.

"It was tough weekend and knew it was going to be tough sledding for us going up against the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the state in Riverton and Cody," said HSCHS boys basketball coach Kevin Gerber. "It was a good way to show us where we need to be and I was excited to play the best because if you want to be the best you have to beat the best."

The Bobcats leading scorer Noah Schwalbe was in foul trouble all through the Riverton game but the Bobcats had a big contribution from the bench as Trey Davis hit five 3-pointers leading the team with 15 points. Coach Gerber noted that turnovers hurt the team the most and how Riverton lived up to their No. 1-ranked billing.

"Noah (Schwalbe) was in foul trouble all game. Turnovers hurt us and Riverton got us for sure they had a lot of deflections. They're an all-around good team that spreads the ball around and has a deep bench. They're the real deal," said coach Gerber.

Saturday the Bobcats played two games, first against Lovell in the early morning and their final against Cody in the afternoon. Saturday's schedule had a regional basketball feel to it and it's what coach Gerber likes the most about these early season tournaments.

"What I like about these tournaments is it lets you know how to get up and get ready for a game because it's what might happen at the end of the season at regionals or state. You might play a late afternoon game then turn around the next day and play an early morning loser-out game. It's good for us to show how we're going to handle that situation and I thought the boys responded pretty well.

Against Lovell, Schwalbe logged a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Before the 'Cats final game versus Cody, team captains Schwalbe, Hudson Roling and Jake Maksin approached their coach about trying a new defense, which pleased their coach.

"I was proud of our leaders, prior to the game our three captains Roling, Schwalbe and Maksin approached me saying, 'Hey we feel we're starting off slow, in the game we'd like to try something different defensively.' I was all for it and it was nice for me as a coach for those guys stepping up and approaching me. I always have an open door for them to bring anything they see to me," said Gerber.

At halftime Thermopolis trailed by seven points but in the second half their shooting went cold as Cody kept adding to their lead. Schwalbe led the team in scoring with 25 points.

"Noah really stepped and had a really good game for us scoring 25 points. He took some really good shots and made tough shots with a hand in his face. As for our team our shots weren't falling in the second half and it was just one of those games," said coach Gerber.

Going into the break Gerber is wanting his team to focus on the defensive end of the court as well as shoring up their fundamentals and rebounding.

"We'll be defensive minded and working through a few different things. We'll also look to work on fundamentals and rebounding," said coach Gerber. "While we haven't had the start we wanted, our attitude has been great. Even with me changing up quite a few things, the players keep working hard and there isn't any grief. They understand what it's for and it shows their maturity and they want what's best for the team. It starts with the whole senior group they're team first oriented and I couldn't be happier to coach this team."