Lady Cats Drop Tough Game at Parkway West

The Lady Cats basketball team suffered a tough loss at Parkway West Friday night without star guard Kirsten Keys.

Macie Lottman broke the seal for the Cats in the first quarter to start a 8-0 run. Lottmann’s jump shot from the block led to back to back 3’s from McKee and another by Lottmann. The rest of the first quarter was all Cats. McKee scored 11 points and Carsyn Beachy’s 3 at the buzzer made the first quarter score 19-8 Cats. Parkway West, however, started to get hot in the second quarter thanks to several shots from downtown to get the margin to four at the half: 25-21 WCA.

2 minutes into the second quarter WCA saw their first deficit of the game at 28-26. The scoring would be back and forth for the rest of the quarter until Macie Lottmann connected on her second 3 of the game to get the score back tied at 31. West once again took control in the fourth quarter and went up by 1 on some clutch free throws with two minutes left in the game. McKee fired back by hitting a circus layup on the next possession to take the lead by a score of to 37-36. This would be Westminster’s last score. West scored on a long jumper to take the lead back with a minute left, then nailed two free throws with 30 seconds remaining. A missed free throw by West with 6 seconds left gave Westminster a chance to draw up a play to send the game to overtime. McKee took the ball the length of the court but just missed a heavily contested 3 as the buzzer went off.

In the absence of WCA’s leading scorer, Kirsten Keys, Kiley McKee was able to pour in 19 points to keep the Cats in the game.

“Kiley did a great job especially considering her role has changed a little since Kirsten was injured” said Senior captain Jordan Haeusser. “I am excited to see what the two of them do together in their senior year.”

Keys is out for 3 weeks due to a hyperextended knee. She leaves a sizable hole in the team’s backcourt and they are all anxious for her to return.

“Keys has been one of our best players for 3 years now and we need her on the court. We have players who can step in to fill a role to make up for her absence but she is a gamechanger on the court” said Haeusser.

The Cats next game is the 19th at Lutheran South.