It’s a tough way to start the season . . . Win your first game in an OK fashion and then play three teams that have a combined 10-2 won loss record. Combine that with maybe not the best playing of the season, and you end up with a 1-3 season record. The good news is that it is still early in the season and there is better basketball to be played.

Last week, the L-N girls dropped two games, one to Franklin and one to BDS.

The game summaries:

L-N – FRANKLIN: 29-49: It’s probably hard to convince anyone that in a loss by 20 points, the game was loss at the free throw line. That may not be true, but that was a big part of this game. Franklin had 23 attempts from the charity stripe and made 11. The Lady Raiders had eleven players contribute at least one foul to the game total of 17 fouls.

L-N had no luck from their shooting attempts either as only 19 percent fell thru the hoop. Katelyn led the team with 8 points while Sydney and Emma each had 6.

The girls did match Franklin in the rebounding department, however, each team having 28. Emma’s 7 rebounds and Aleah’s 5 led the team in rebounding.

(Scoring, rebounds, assists): Addi Mccloskey 0, 1, 0; Sydney Biltoft 6, 1, 0: Jessica Sole 0, 0, 0; Claire Himmelberg 0, 1, 0; Aleah Heikkinen 5, 5, 2; Emily Troudt 0, 2, 0; Elsa Jorgensen 4, 1, 1; Hanna Skinner 0, 0, 0 Emma Epley 6, 7, 2; Katelyn Mazour 8, 4, 1; Kylie Bargen 0, 1, 0; Kara Menke 0, 2, 1.

L-N: 29, 28, 7.

Franklin 49, 28, 14.

Three points shots: L-N: 5-24: Sydney 2-5, Aleah 1-2, Katelyn 2-7; Franklin: 2-4.

Free Throws: L-N: 4-6; Elsa 2-4, Emma 2-2; Franklin: 11-23.

Fouls: L-N 17; Franklin: 8.

L-N – B D S: 29-44: Bruning-Davenport-Shickley (BDS) came into this game 3-0 and went home 4-0 by playing a strong defensive game against the Lady Raiders. The BDS defense kept L-N away from the basket enough to make a pretty good difference in the game.

Emma Epley scored the first points of the game, but L-N went scoreless for almost five minutes, allowing BDS to start adding up points. The last two minutes of that first period, however, had L-N earning a 10-2 scoring run.

The second period was the killer, however, as L-N took only ten field goal attempts and missed all of them.

Claire Himmelberg led the team in scoring with 7 points. Kara Menke led the team in rebounds and assists with 4 and 3 respectively. Emma Epley and Katelyn Mazour each had three steal apiece.

(Scoring, rebounds, assists): Sydney Biltoft 3. 1. 0: Claire Himmelberg 7, 2, 0; Aleah Heikkinen 2, 2, 2; Emily Troudt 2, 2, 1; Elsa Jorgensen 3, 0, 1; Emma Epley 5, 7, 1; Katelyn Mazour 3, 2, 0; Kylie Bargen 0, 0, 0; Kara Menke 2, 4,3.

L-N: 29, 20, 8.

BDS: 44, ?, ?.

Three points shots: L-N: 3-19: Sydney 1-3, Claire 1-5, Katelyn 1-6; BDS: 5-18.

Free Throws: L-N: 2-8; BDS: 5-11.

Fouls: L-N 10; BDS: 10.

This week the Lady Raiders travel to Friend on Friday and then are at home next Tuesday when they play Shelton.