Roller coaster ride continues for Lady Bison

LEFT Hailey Ellison scores for the Lady Bison in JV tournament action with the Lady Cougars. See page 3B for the story. Van’Go’photo The roller coaster ride dubbed the 2009 season continued last week as the Lady Bison saw both ends of the spectrum. Buffalo dropped a close non-district game to Franklin on Tuesday before entering the Frankston Tournament on Thursday. The Lady Bison scored one win and two losses for a fourth place finish. District play begins Tuesday in Trinity for the Lady Bison before they compete in the Centerville Tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Franklin, Frankston and Leon implemented tight zone defenses that caused problems for the Lady Bison. On Tuesday night, Buffalo struggled to score throughout the night as Franklin lit up the scoreboard from the perimeter. The Lady Bison managed only four points the first quarter and seven the second to trail 11-18 at the half. The Lady Bison hit double digits in the third stanza with ten points, but Franklin hit fifteen to stretch the lead to 33-21. The Lady Lions went into a stall to start the fourth quarter, and milked precious seconds off the clock. Franklin did not shoot a field goal during the final eight minutes, but connected on six of fifteen free throws to pull off a 39-30 victory.

Kelsey Canady reached double digits for the Lady Bison with eleven points. Kylan Ferguson netted eight points, and Kaila Grissett dropped in four. Lindsey McGill drained

a three-pointer while Erica Jones and Meredith Shaw contributed two points each.

Defensively, the Lady Bison performed well, holding the Lady Lions senior guard, Alysha Rogers to only seven points.

A broken court served the Lady Bison well in the first round of the Frankston Tournament as Buffalo scored a 56-14 victory over Alto. Alto, rebuilding following a big graduation year, struggled throughout the evening to get anything going offensively. Buffalo scored a season-high 24 points in the second period to lead 34-7 at the half.

Latisha Jackson led the Lady Bison with 13 points while Canady kicked in 10. Lindsey McGill and Ky Ferguson contributed eight points each. Jones and Grissett provided six and five, respectively, while Lauren Chambers, Reagan Read and Shaw threw in two each.

Friday, Buffalo matched up with the host team, Frankston. The Lady Indian, 7-2, led after the first eight minutes 15-13. The second quarter was the Achilles heel for the Lady Bison as they committed ten turnovers in eight minutes, resulting in twentysix points for the Lady Indians. The Lady Bison adjusted at the half, and outscored Frankston 24-21 in the last sixteen minutes. Unfortunately, Frankston’s earlier lead was too great to overcome and Buffalo picked up a 42-65 loss.

Jackson and Canady once again took top scoring honors with ten and eight points, respectively. Kylan Ferguson and Shaw provided six points each while Chambers and Grissett tallied four each. McGill and Jones were good for two points each.

Stone-cold shooting on Saturday afternoon spelled doom for the Lady Bison. Leon struck gold on eight occasions from beyond the arc on the way to a 50-22 victory in the third place contest.

The Lady Bison connected on four of 20 free throws, and managed only nine field goals out of 57 attempts. “You can expect to have an off shooting game occasionally, but you really don’t expect the whole team to go cold simultaneously,” Coach Ron Shaw said. “We’re hoping to have the whole squad going full speed this next week. So far, we haven’t played a game with all players in top form. We’ve been nursing some injuries, and trying to avoid further aggravation. Let’s hope it pays off as we enter district play.”