Wildcats Split Season-Opener Against Lipscomb Academy

Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis

The Livingston Academy Lady Cats got their season off to a 1-0 start with their 41-36 win over Lipscomb Academy on Tuesday night.

It all started with a strong defensive showing in the first quarter, one where the Lady Cats held the Lady Mustangs to just 10 points and held a five-point lead. Lipscomb fought back and took a 25-22 lead into halftime on a buzzer-beating layup.

Out of the break, the Lady Cats turned up the heat at the defensive end and went on an 11-1 run to spread the margin out to 32-26. The Lady Mustangs fought back to cut the deficit to three heading into the fourth, but that was as close as they got. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Livingston Academy walking out with a 41-36 opening night victory.

“I feel like we took control of the game in the second half,” said LA head coach Leslie Riddle. “In the first half, we allowed them to speed us up a bit too much, and we took too many chances…in the second half, we just tried to slow the tempo a little bit.”

That third-quarter run ultimately proved to be too much for Lipscomb to overcome, something Riddle attributes to her team’s focus on the little things coming out of the locker room.

“We were allowing them to push us out of our patterns, so we talked about focusing on the details,” Riddle said. “Setting screens for each other and making better flashes…just really focusing on the details offensively.”

As far as what to do better, Riddle says that it’s a great win, but there’s still a long way to go this season.

“It was ugly,”Riddle said. “It was a great team, and this is a great win, but at this point in the season, everything’s got to get better.”

The Wildcats took the floor soon after, and after battling from an early deficit to go into halftime down 30-23, it was another big third-quarter run that proved to be the difference in a 75-47 loss for Livingston.

Trailing by that seven-point margin, the Wildcats were outscored 26-8 in the third quarter to go into the final frame facing a 56-31 deficit.

Livingston was able to get some scoring going and mix it with some stops defensively in the fourth, but the Lipscomb lead proved to be too much and the Mustangs earned a 75-47 win.

Isaac Story led the Wildcats with 15 points on 5-10 shooting from the floor.

The two teams will be back in action on Nov. 20 in Clarkrange’s Hall of Fame playday. Each team will take on Smith County and North Greene.

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