Wildcats suffer Ropes loss, 60-30

A pack of Wildcats got stuck in some visiting Eagles’ wingspans Tuesday night and never could get out.

Wellman-Union’s young, as-yet-winless hoop team suffered a 60-30 loss to Ropesville visitors, but not from lack of effort.

"I think we played hard, but we made a lot of mistakes that are tough to overcome,” said Head Coach JoeBob Ussery.

The ‘Cats were down 0-15 after a first quarter in which they were barely able to shoot a basket, much less land one. They sank five shots in the second, though, but were still down 10-32 at halftime and 16-56 by the end of the third. They actually

outscored the Eagles by a nearly four-to-one margin in the fourth, which unfortunately still wasn’t enough to recover from their 40-point deficit from minutes earlier. 

Ussery added that as the season progresses, he plans to instruct the ‘Cats to handle pressure better and avoid the turnovers that cost them the Ropes game.

"We’re a young team, and we’re going to keep working and improving,” he said. "I feel like we have a bright future ahead of us.”

Scorers included Kirby Bailey 5-0 10, Luis Gonzales 3-1 1-2 10, Nathaniel Steiger 2-1 7, Martin Loewen 0-0 1-2 1 and Vincent Tedford 0-0 1-2 1. The ‘Cats landed four of 12 free-throw attempts for 33 percent.

The Wildcats were competing in a tournament in Whiteface as this issue of the Brownfield News went to press, and are set to begin district season Dec. 11 in Borden County. Their next home game is Dec. 14 against Loop.

For results and photos from those games, keep checking your hometown newspaper.