Lady Cubs impress with defense, offense ice cold

OLNEY- The Olney High School Lady Cubs may have had a stellar night on defense, but their offensive shortcomings led to a 41-25 loss to district rival Petrolia.

After working their full-court press trap scheme in practice for months, the Lady Cubs’ efforts seemed to pay dividends in the first half, but they failed to have the same success on the offensive end, which allowed the Lady Pirates to jump out to a 12-1 before a 3-pointer by Olney junior guard Shea Sollee just before the first quarter buzzer.

“We’ve been implementing the defense really well the past few games,” Olney coach Jimmy Toney said. “Tonight was not a good night ... They can hit some shots.”

Olney’s offense remained anemic until senior post Kodee Scott, who led the LadyCubs in scoring with 6 points,  hit a jumper that seemed to reinvigorate the Lady Cubs, sparking a 7-point scoring run on shots from junior post La'Anna Golden and sophomore guard Jae Montgomery.

Montgomery’s drive for a basket cut the Lady Pirate’s lead to eight, but that was as close as Olney would come to victory.

“We’ve spend hours and hours shooting every day,” Toney said. “This is a process and sometimes it's a hard pill to swallow."

With the loss, the Lady Cubs will next head on the road to face Electra Friday. The junior varsity Lady Cubs tip off at 4 p.m.