Lady Tigers split Classic games

The Encampment Lady Tigers appear to have a promising season ahead of them, despite a split weekend at the Carbon County Classic. On Friday, the Lady Tigers played against the Hayden Lady Tigers (36-38), where they lost due to a buzzer-beating shot, as the St. Stephen's Lady Eagles (47-53), surpassed Encampment in the last 40 seconds of the game. Saturday, however, was a different story as the Lady Tigers beat the Meeteetse Lady Longhorns (35-31) and the Dubois Lady Rams (34-30). This weekend showed that, while Encampment only has seven girls on the team, they are able to overcome challenges.

"We still have a lot to learn as individuals and as a team, but considering our low numbers and limited playing time against a legitimate defense, I thought we played pretty well," said Clint Bromley, head coach of the Lady Tigers.

Encampment vs. Hayden

The first game of the season saw Encampment struggle during the first half, but regroup in the second to give Hayden a challenge. Senior Noelle Peterson led the team in scoring with 25 points and 9 rebounds while sophomore Lizzie James scored 10 points against the rival Tigers.

"This being our first game of the year, we got off to a slow start on offense because of nerves and didn't recover from that until the second half," Bromley said. "We only shot 38 percent from the foul line and that became the difference between a win and a loss."

Encampment vs.

St. Stephens

The game against the Lady Eagles was another struggle for Encampment as they kept it close for the most of the game, but lost it in the fourth quarter.

"It is good to be able to play the Eagles early in the season so you have a gauge of where you are at," said Bromley. "Turnovers (29) plagued us in this game and ultimately cost us the win. We were leading going into the fourth quarter and gave up 20 points on some poor shot selection and it ultimately cost us the lead and the game."

Peterson, again, led the team with 21 points and 11 rebounds. James followed with 8 points and 15 rebounds and senior Lauren Buford scored 7 points and had 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

Encampment vs.

Meeteetse

The second day of the tournament saw the Lady Tigers get their first win of the year as they defeated the Lady Longhorns on Saturday.

"It's always nice to get a win and hopefully that starts to build momentum for the season," Bromley said. "This was a close contest from start to finish, but turnovers were again the issue for us. The bulk of our team is young and has limited playing time, so it is going to take a few games to get them to settle in and play better and start to minimize the number of mistakes that we make."

Peterson scored 11 points against Meeteetse and had 11 rebounds and 3 steals. James scored 6 points and 6 six rebounds and Buford had 7 rebounds.

Encampment vs. Dubois

The momentum made during the game against the Lady Longhorns seemed to carry over as Encampment played the Lady Rams. During that game, Peterson scored 16 points and had 6 rebounds, Buford scored 8 points and sophomore Grace Tieszen scored 6 points and had 3 assists and 4 steals.

"I thought this was the best game of the tournament for us. We corrected some of the mistakes that we had made in the earlier games and we played almost error free with only four turnovers in the contest," said Bromley. "I thought that our younger players turned a corner and played well for us."

The Lady Tigers have only a few days to improve on mistakes seen during the Carbon County Classic before they head into the Lingle-Fort Laramie Dogger Basketball Classic on Dec. 14 where they will begin the weekend by taking on the Rock River Lady Longhorns at noon.