Lady Wolverines tangle with hot-shooting Cougars

The Lady Wolverines hosted the 4A Caldwell Cougars for their first home non-conference basketball game last Friday.  
 The Lady Wolverines continue to work hard and improve but continue to seek out their first win of the season, as they dropped the game to the Cougars 63-45.
 The Cougars were on fire in the first quarter, hitting 56 percent of their shots and adding 20 points to their credit.  
 The Wolverines battled to find any good looks at the basket. Madison Phillips, Ivy Morris and Mattie Shirts had 2 points apiece, but 6 points was all the Wolverines could gather up, leaving them facing a big 20-6 deficit after one quarter.
 The Wolverines stepped up their play and found a bit more success into the second quarter with Maddy Erickson adding 4 points. Rhianna Soliz drained a basket from behind the arc and a pair of free throws, and Mattie Shirts added a basket and 3 of her 4 free throw attempts for 5 points.  
 Although the Wolverines added 14 points in the quarter, they still came up short to the Cougars at 17 points and added to the scoring gap 37-20.
 After halftime, the Wolverines continued to battle, increasing their shooting percentage considerably, but they were unable to make any forward progress on mounting a comeback.  Erickson added 6 points during the period and Ivy Morris and Moyle both had 3 points.  Alex Bittinger and Shirts also added a basket apiece.
 Trailing 53-36 to begin the fourth quarter, the Lady Wolverines had a lot of work to do to get back into the game, and began on the defensive end, holding the Cougars to only 7 points from the field and 1 point from the line.  
 However, the Wolverines were unable to capitalize on the opportunity with only Andrea Bouvia and Macy Moore scoring 2 points and 3 points, respectively, from the field. Shirts and Erickson both added a pair of free throws, but the Wolverines only scored 9 points to the Cougars 10 points in the quarter, thus allowing the Cougars to take the game 63-45.
 Erickson again led the Wolverines with 12 points and 4 rebounds, followed by Shirts with 11-points, 7 rebounds and shot 83 percent from the line. Morris had 5 points and 2 rebounds and Soliz added 5 points. Moyle and Moore each added 3 points and 3 combined rebounds. Bouvia, Phillips and Bittinger had 2 points apiece and Juarez had 2 rebounds.