Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats closed out their season with a 66-27 win over Stone Memorial on Friday.
LA started off a little bit slower than their previous meeting with Stone, though they still found themselves holding a 16-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Lady Wildcats managed to create a little more separation on the scoreboard there, as they outscored the Lady Panthers 12-10 to push the advantage to 28-17 at the halftime break.
The third quarter saw Livingston come out with some new-found energy, as they put together a solid quarter to run the lead over Stone to 45-24. This allowed the Lady Wildcats to cruise in the fourth to a 66-27 victory to close the regular season out.
Ellie Butler led the way with a game-high 25 points for head coach Leslie Riddle, who says the energy in the second half was something she’d like to see more of moving forward.
“I think we came out a little bit flat, and I didn’t expect that after two losses,” Riddle said. “Stone did a good job of getting some good shots on us, but I was really impressed with the intensity of our play in the second half.”
And the hope is that the high energy will continue into next week’s district tournament.
“It’s crucial,” Riddle said. “We’ve had two or three games where the energy wasn’t there, and it finally came back, so we’re hoping it stays that way.”
The Wildcats fell to the Panthers in the boys game 59-54, as the Panthers held off a furious, fourth-quarter run from Livingston to earn the victory.
LA’s offense got off to a good start in the opening frame, as they held a 17-14 lead at at the end of the first quarter. Stone battled back in the second, outscoring the Wildcats 13-6 and taking a 27-23 advantage into the half after Dylan Whittenburg hit a layup at the buzzer.
The Panthers proved to be the team that came out with better energy in the third, outscoring Livingston 17-12 to take a 44-35 lead into the fourth. Trailing by double digits at one point in the final frame, the Wildcats proceeded to tie the game at 52 with just over a minute remaining on a Brodey Coffee three, though Stone took the lead right back just a single possession later. That proved to be the difference in a 59-54 loss for LA.
Cade Capps paced the Panthers with 17 points, while Matthew Bilbrey scored 14 points for head coach Neil Capps.
“After last night against Upperman, we wanted it to matter more to us tonight and take the fight to them,” Capps said. “They really got up and pressured them…we’re very happy to secure the regular season championship. I told them I was proud of them.”
Any win before postseason is a good thing, as it gets momentum going in the right direction. Heading into this district tournament, Capps knows it’s still a very wide open tournament that just about any team can make noise in.
“I truly feel that it’s a toss-up,” Capps said. “Kids play hard, and are so well-coached…we’ve got to really put the work in and get better…when we find out who our next opponent is, we’ll get to work to prepare for them. There are no easy games now.”
