by Megan Caldwell

On Monday, December 6 the Willow Springs Lady Bears entered the Cabool Tournament. The Lady Bears were seated 4th in the tournament. They played the Cabool Lady Bulldogs and came out on top with a final score of 61 to 44. The Lady Bears outscored the Bulldogs in both the 1st and 3rd quarter and by big margins.

Stephanie Williams goes up for a shot against Cabool

The top scorer of the night was Allisha Shanks who had 25 points, 21 of them being from 3 pointers. The scoring was very spread out: Kyndall Bunch 12, Kyra Bunch 6, Kayla Roberts 6, Stephanie Williams 6, Kamryn Hutsell 4, Alexis Privette 2.

The Lady Bears were 10 for 13 from the free throw line. The girls did an awesome job finding the open player which allowed the shooters good looks at the basket which resulted in making a lot of shots.

Alexis Privette shoots from beyond the free throw line.

The Lady Bears then advanced to the second round to take on the top seated Seymour Lady Tigers on Thursday December 9th. Seymour outscored the Bears in every quarter making the final score 62 to 49.

The Lady Bears did an excellent job blocking out in the first half which allowed them to stay within five at halftime. In the second half they gave up a few extra opportunities that a competing team cannot allow good teams like Seymour to have. The Lady Bears kept it close until Seymour started stalling the last four minutes of the game, and Willow had to start fouling.

Coach Gutscher commented, “This is a good learning experience for our teams. The lesson I hope that is learned from this game is that we believe in our ability to compete with the best teams in our area.”

Allisha Shanks seals a 3 point shot.

Stephanie Williams and Kyndall Bunch led scoring with 11 points each. Kyra Bunch and Allisha Shanks followed closely with 9 points each. Kayla Roberts had 5 and Alexis Privette had 4.

Kyra Bunch shoots for two.

The Lady Bears went on to play the Liberty Lady Eagles on Saturday, December 11. They lost with a score of 59 to 47 and received fourth place in the Cabool Tournament.

Allisha Shanks had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Kyndall Bunch had 11 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. Kyra Bunch had 8 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block. Kayla Roberts had 5 points and 5 steals. Kamryn Hutsell had 5 points and 2 rebounds. Alissa Chapman had 2 points and 6 rebounds. Natasha Burtchett had 2 points and 3 steals.

This leaves the Lady Bears with a record of 3-2.