Steve Lasman had a successful run as the Wellsville-Middletown boys basketball coach, winning 84 games in seven years.

On Dec. 6, he won his first game as the Tigers’ girls coach.

W-M came from behind to beat the Bowling Green Bobcats 32-29 in the seventh-place game of the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament at Montgomery County Middle School. The Tigers lost their first three games before pulling off the win over their Eastern Missouri Conference foe.

“It was a great comeback by our girls,” Lasman said. “Great job.”

W-M came back from an 11-point, third-quarter deficit to beat Bowling Green and finish 1-2 in the Montgomery County tournament. The Tigers, who were seeded seventh, lost to second-seeded Hermann in a first-round game on Dec. 4 and sixth-seeded Fulton in the consolation semifinals on Dec. 6.

“These girls are so good in practice,” Lasman said. “They work hard and they’re a great bunch of kids. I’m glad for them.”

W-M improved to 1-3 with the win over Bowling Green. Two weeks ago, the Tigers began their season with a 45-21 loss to Community R-6, which was Lasman’s first game as W-M girls coach.

“We had a rough start to our year, but we really needed this win,” W-M senior Hallie Guzy said.

Guzy, who is playing in her fourth and final year with the Tigers, helped her team pull off the win by scoring the go-ahead basket with 1:23 left in the game. With the game tied at 29-29, sophomore Elly Cash recovered a Bowling Green turnover, then attempted a layup before she missed the shot. Guzy rebounded the miss and scored the basket.

“I was hoping that she would make it, but I was going down to rebound and be there for her,” Guzy said.

W-M junior Helenea McKenzie added a free throw with 16.6 seconds left to complete the scoring in the game. Bowling Green’s Avery Schumacher attempted a game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds, but missed.

The Tigers trailed 25-14 early in the third quarter before rallying to tie the game at 25 on a basket by Guzy with 22 seconds left. With the Bobcats leading 29-27 late in the fourth quarter, senior Keigan Hall received a pass from Guzy and scored the basket to tie it.

Lasman said cutting down on the turnovers was the key to his team’s comeback win.

“Our kids took care of the ball and we became more patient on offense,” Lasman said. “We were throwing the ball to them the whole first half. We were turning the ball over. You can’t turn the ball over and you have to rebound. We did both in the second half. We took care of the ball and we got the ball to our scorers.”

Guzy finished with 11 points and 23 in the three games of the tournament. Hall, who earned all-Montgomery County Tournament honors in each of the last two years, finished with 10 against Bowling Green and a team-high 25 in the tournament. Cash had 10 points against the Bobcats and 23 in the tournament.

The Tigers are back in action on Dec. 13 against Liberty Christian Academy at home. They will play Bowling Green again on Feb. 14 in an EMO game on the road.

Lasman was hired to take over the W-M girls this winter, replacing Todd Cripe, who retired after the 2023-24 school year. He helped the boys team win three district titles and make an appearance at the Class 1 Show-Me Showdown in 2022, where it finished fourth.

Lasman is no stranger to coaching girls basketball. He is coaching his fourth girls basketball program.

“It’s no big deal,” Lasman said. “I coached my daughter in high school.”

This winter, Lasman is looking to help the Tigers finish with another successful season. They finished 13-13 last year.

“We need to win as many games as we can and just keep getting better,” Lasman said.

Guzy said she and her teammates enjoy working with Lasman after two weeks.

“I love Coach Lasman,” the senior said. “He’s been so great to work with. He has such a different way about coaching and I really enjoy it.”

The Tigers have seven players on their team. Guzy, Hall, McKenzie, Cash and sophomore Aubrey Harmon are the returning players and are joined by newcomers Alivia Stewart (senior) and Julia Dias (junior).

“I love them,” Guzy said. “We have a good group. Even though we are inexperienced, we’re really a family. I really enjoyed being in practices and games with them.”