FLORENCE, Wis. — Heading into the last two weeks, the Florence LadyCats had an opportunity to do something they haven’t done in seven seasons — win at least a share of a Northern Lakes Conference title.

With a victory over either Laona-Wabeno on Sept. 18 or over Three Lakes on Thursday night, Florence would have accomplished that task. But the LadyCats were unable to record a win in either game — falling to Laona-Wabeno 25-19, 25-15, 17-25, 25-21 on the road and then losing to Three Lakes 25-20, 25-22, 25-15 at home.

“Our conference is tough; I will say that” Florence coach Teresa Chrisman said. “But it is our time to shine and show up. Once again, it just did not happen.

Chrisman said her team struggled to control Lilly Terry of Laona-Wabeno and Mariah Szews of Three Lakes.

“The opposition’s strong hitters had a field day against us,” the Florence coach said. “I made an adjustment (against) Three Lakes so that our sophomore Miley VanDenHeuvel could get some touches and blocks and that she did, but once again our hitting errors were our downfall.”

Chrisman said her squad, which defeated L-W earlier in the season, “had difficulty with the moment in the second matchup.

“Playing scared is the only thing I can describe it as. But with any good teams, we need to pick ourselves up and use this as motivation to get better and come out stronger. Those are the only options.”

The Florence coach did give credit to her players for their hustle and heart in the matches.

“But their play has to show it on the court. There is a lot of season still ahead of us, and we will learn a lot about our team to see how we move on from this skid.”

The LadyCats travel to the Valders Invitational today. The field includes Division 2 and Division 3 teams Denmark, Little Chute, Omro, Reedsville and the host Vikings.

Stats for L-W/Three Lakes matches:

Sami Demuri, 3 aces, 6 kills, 1 block, 34 assists, 26 digs

Kelsi Chrisman, 3 aces, 21 kills, 3 blocks, 11 assists, 16 digs

Ashlyn VanDenHeuvel, 1 ace, 10 kills, 4 blocks, 17 digs

Miley VanDenHeuvel, 1 ace, 19 kills, 3 blocks, 24 digs

Naomi Millan, 2 aces, 4 kills, 1 block, 23 digs

Emily Wolske, 8 digs

Ashley Peterson, 16 digs