The South Loup Lady Bobcats dropped a home non-conference matchup to the Hershey Panthers on Tuesday, Jan. 6, falling 13-60.

Hershey jumped out to a 23-1 lead after the opening quarter and carried a 39-7 advantage into halftime. South Loup battled throughout but struggled to find offensive consistency against the Panthers’ aggressive defense.

Sophomore Rae Hagler led the Bobcats with 6 points, hitting 2 three-pointers. Senior Erin Fitzgerald added 4 points on two field goals, while sophomore Emma Stallbaumer scored 2 points and junior Asa Starr added 1.

On the boards, Kamryn Kramer and Gracie Brennan each grabbed 5 rebounds. Brennan also contributed 2 assists and 2 steals. As a team, South Loup totaled 21 rebounds and forced several turnovers in the second half while continuing to compete to the end.

After the disappointing loss to Hershey, the Bobcats hit the road to face a strong Sandhills/Thedford squad on Thursday, Jan. 8, who came into the contest boasting a 6-4 record. After matching the Knights bucket-for-bucket in the first quarter, South Loup lost momentum. The Knights outpaced them in the final three, putting up double digits each quarter to win the contest 51-22.

A beleaguered Bobcat team then hosted Bertrand on Saturday, Jan. 10 and had to add another loss to their record falling to the visiting team. They did manage to gain some ground on defense, holding the Vikings to just 38 points. However, the offense struggled to get plays to work for them and they managed to answer with only 18 points of their own.

Full statistics were not available for the final two games by press time, and will be included in next week’s issue.

The Lady Bobcats have their work cut out for them this week, as well. On Jan. 16-17, they will play back-to-back contests against the Maxwell Wildcats and Brady Eagles, then travel on Tuesday, Jan. 20 to face the Arcadia/Loup City Rebels. The Jan. 16 game at home will have a 6 p.m. tip-off.