It has been a bit of a rough start to the season for the South Loup girls’ basketball team. After winning their season opener against Twin Loup the Lady Bobcats suffered losses in their next two contests, against Amherst and Cambridge.

On Dec. 9, South Loup hosted Pleasanton with hopes of being able to turn things around, and they accomplished just that - scoring the most points they've had thus far this season to find success. They came out on top of the Bulldogs by a score of 4538. The victory was just what South Loup needed coming off of a 49-29 loss in their prior matchup with Cambridge.

The Lady Bobcats had a senior duo take command as Josie Reiff scored 15 points along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals, and Bryn Schwarz dropped a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. That makes it four consecutive games in which Schwarz has scored at least 25% of South Loup's points.

Next up for South Loup was a trip up the road to meet the Sumner-Eddyville-Miller Mustangs. S-E-M came out firing, scoring 18 points in the first period while holding the Lady Bobcats to just five. South Loup struggled to try to get something going in the first half, but the Mustangs proved to be just too much to handle.

Schwarz was South Loup's leading scorer, having posted 8 points. She also led the team in rebounds with seven.

The Lady Bobcats were back on their home court on Friday, Dec. 15, as they hosted Medicine Valley. The home team looked good in the first period of play both offensively and defensively, as they racked up 13 points and held the Raiders to just one bucket. Medicine Valley outscored the Bobcats in the second period, but South Loup took a 20-14 lead into the halftime locker room.

Unfortunately in the second half, it was all Raiders. Medicine Valley added another 26 points to their score in the last two periods, while the Lady Bobcats were only able to put another 9 on the board, losing the game 29-40.

The girls were back on the road Monday as they headed to Maxwell for a holiday tournament in what would prove to be a true catfight. The first period came to a close with South Loup holding a 1 point lead, 8-7. The battle continued in period two, and at the half, it was Maxwell 14, South Loup 13.

The Wildcats grew their lead slightly in the third period, but the Bobcats remained within easy reach with the score 21-19. However, Maxwell found their groove in the fourth and the Lady Bocats could not seem to find a way to stop them, as the Wildcats doubled the score on their opponent that quarter, 14-7. South Loup lost another heartbreaker, 24-35.

Stats for the Medicine Valley and Maxwell games were not available at press time.

The Lady Bobcats will return to action following the Christmas break when they host Hershey on Jan. 2. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. for the JV game and 6 p.m. for the varsity game in Callaway.