Wildcat girls clip Bobcats in season-opener

Last season the Custer High School girls basketball team made 22 three-pointers over the course of their twenty-something games played.
Last Friday evening the team made eight in its season-opening 43-41 win over the visiting Upton, Wyo., Bobcats. It was a sight for sore eyes, especially those on the face of head coach Mick Patlzlaff, who often lamented his team’s inability to shoot last season.
“We really shot well from the perimeter,” Patzlaff said. “We had five different players hit (a three-pointer). I was pretty happy with that.”
Among those to make a three-pointer were Ally Cass, who buried a pair of triples in the first quarter, which helped propel the Wildcats to an early 11-5 lead in the first quarter.
The Bobcats, which finished third in the Wyoming Class 1A State Tournament last year, tied the game early in the second quarter on a Brooklyn Materi drive for a basket.
The Wildcats pulled back ahead when Anna Lewis rebounded and scored off her own miss, but Upton answered with a basket of her own before Kaitlyn Spring—who scored a team-high nine points for the Wildcats—buried the first of three triples she had in the game.
That set off a barrage of triples for the Wildcats, as Spring’s three was followed by consecutive Ramsey Karim triples, which Spring then bookended with another three off a steal and assist from Cass. At that point, the Wildcats had gone on a 12-0 run and held a 25-13 lead.
The Bobcats clawed back into the game in the third quarter, beginning with a Jerrica Caylor rebound and basket that was followed by an Alyson Louderback basket that cut the Wildcat lead to four. Another triple stopped the Bobcat momentum, however, as this time Alice Sedlacek made a basket from deep to give Custer a 31-26 lead.
Allie Kelley extended Custer’s lead at the outset of the fourth quarter with a three-pointer of her own, but the Bobcats continued to hang around, grabbing rebounds and scoring inside, including a scoop and score by Paige Timberman that cut the Wildcat lead to 36-33.
Custer maintained a four-pont cushion until there was 1:13 left in the game, when Caylor scored again inside to cut the lead to two. Kelley then made a free throw, but another Bobcat basket again made the Wildcat advantage a single point.
With 30 seconds left in the game, Kelley—who scored all of her eight points in the fourth quarter—made two more free throws, and the Wildcats appeared to have the game sealed when they forced a jump ball at half court with the possession arrow favoring Custer. However, the inbounds pass squirted through Kelley’s hands and led to a Bobcat layup, cutting the Custer advantage to 42-41 with 16 seconds remaining.
Kelley quickly made up for the turnover at the other end of the floor when she sank another free throw. After another jump ball situation at the Upton end of the floor, the Bobcats had three seconds to attempt a game-tying or winning shot. Instead, returning all-state player Katlyn Louderback—whom Cass locked down to the tune of 1-15 shooting—threw a pass to a teammate who had no time to attempt a shot.
“We played good defense, had some timely shooting from the outside and were resilient,” Patzlaff said. “(Louderback) threw it to the other side of the floor and didn’t even attempt to try to score. That’s because Ally (Cass) had her so flustered.”
Patzlaff said the resilience was personified by Sedlacek, who had a poor first half but rebounded in the second half to finish with seven points, nine rebounds and five steals, and Kelley, who took over the fourth quarter, including after the turnover that led to an easy Bobcat basket.
“A year ago she may not have risen to the occasion, but she did,” he said. “And it would have been really easy for Alice to hang her head (after the first half). That says a lot about how our kids have grown up.”
No Wildcat scored in double figures, but the balanced scoring combined with players seemingly taking turns carrying the team—Cass in the first quarter, Spring and Karim in the second, Sedlacek in the third and Kelley in the fourth—is something that has Patzlaff optimistic.
“It was good to have multiple people step up and do some good things for us,” he said.
The Bobcats are no slouches, either. They returned every player of consequence from that third place team last year and entered the game 2-0.
“I think the fact we were able to find a way to win says a lot about the effort we put out there,” Patzlaff said.
The Wildcats forced 22 turnovers in the game, but turned the ball over 23 times themselves, an area Patzlaff said will need to improve. Patzlaff also pointed out the Wildcats were outrebounded, and struggled shooting inside the three-point line, shooting at a 17 percent (4-23) clip inside the arc.
“We have plenty of work to do,” he said.
The Wildcats will be at the Armory again Friday night for a 6 p.m. tip against Lakota Tech, a new private school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Tatanka opened their season with a win over Kimball-White Lake.
“They have some shooters, and a pretty good-sized post,” Patzlaff said. “We are looking forward to a good game with them. We hope to fix some of our mistakes and get better.”
The following day the team will head east to White River. The Tigers are 1-0 on the season, having destroyed Stanley County by over 40 in the season-opener. The Tigers feature one of the better players in the state in Caelyn Valandra-Prue.
“It will be fun to see how we stack up against them,” Patzlaff said. “They have been one of the best programs in Class B over the last few years.”
Custer    11    15    5    12    —43    
Upton    7    9    10    15    —41
Custer—Allie Kelley 1-6 5-8 8, Ramsey Karim 2-3 0-0 6, Ally Cass 2-7 1-2 7, Alice Sedlacek 1-10 4-7 7, Kaitlyn Spring 3-10 1-2 9, Anna Lewis 2-11 0-0 4, Kellyn Kortemeyer 1-2 0-2 2. Totals: 12-46 11-21 43.
Upton, Wyo.—Hailey Turner 0-1 0-0 0, Katlyn Louderback 1-15 2-4 5, Jerrica Caylor 6-13 3-8 16, Alyson Louderback 1-7 0-0 2, Brooklyn Materi 2-6 1-3 2-6 1-3 5, Sophie Louderback 0-4 1-2 1. Totals: 14-54 10-21 41.
Three-point goals: Custer 8 (Karim 2, Cass 2, Spring 2, Kelley, Selacek), Upton 3 (K. Louderback, Caylor, Timberman). Rebounding: Custer 37 (Sedlacek 9), Upton 42 (K. Louderback 9). Assists: Custer 10 (Cass 4), Upton 5. Steals: Custer 10 (Sedlacek 5), Upton 15. Turnovers: Custer 23, Upton 22. Total fouls: Custer 19, Upton 19. Fouled out: Timberman.