Lady Miners bury the competition

Jackie Jones gives JV players plenty of court time

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners played twice this week and crushed both teams they faced.

Lady Miners vs. Dubois Lady Rams

The HEM home crowd got to see the Lady Miners take on Dubois at 3 p.m. on Friday. The young Lady Rams, who did not have a deep bench, found out why HEM is undefeated at this point in the season.

The starters played in the first quarter but, with the score 5 for Dubois and 15 for HEM going into the 2nd quarter, Head Coach Jackie Jones put in players that had less experience. With a little under over two minutes left in the quarter, the entire team on the floor was JV. The score was 28-7.

In the 3rd quarter Jones had a mix of starters working with the younger players and the Lady Miners could do no wrong. With only four minutes left in the quarter, HEM was up 42-11. Dubois had few answers to the steals and points that HEM kept getting.

Going into the 4th quarter it was 52-14. Jones kept putting in different combinations of her players. Dubois did score more points, but they were still no match for any team Jones put out on the court. The final score was 60-27.

Jones was happy with all of her players but she had kind words for the team that HEM had just beaten.

"I give those girls from Dubois a lot of credit," Jones said. "Five girls going buzzer to buzzer and never giving up. It was great to see them smiling, working hard and I think a lot of times, when you get down and you haven't won a game, it gets difficult. I am pretty impressed with what the Dubois girls brought to our gym after a long trip."

Jones admitted her team started out on fire.

"Madison (Campbell) hit the first 8 points in the game and it just sort of sealed the deal," Jones said. "I thought Madison did a great job of getting us going."

Jones said Taylor Scott got steals and Amy Campbell attacked the bucket and there was no stopping the Lady Miners.

"Avery Scott played a lot of basketball today with the starters and then later with the younger players," Jones said. "Next year these younger players are going to have to carry the load, so it was good to get them out on the court in a varsity game."

Rainey Wilson, a junior, was on the floor directing the less experienced teammates along with A. Scott, who is a freshman.

"Rainey is our calming force," Jones said. "Rainey has played enough basketball to know that there are times you have to get yourself and the team composed."

"Emma Garcia and Hanna Gonzales had some good shots and T'ylssa Solaas was very aggressive on the floor," Jones said. "It was good to see these girls get a chance to show what they can do."

Amy Campbell scored 18 points, A. Scott scored 10 points and had 3 assists, 9 rebounds and 6 steals. Her sister, Taylor, had 7 steals and 6 assists.

"Avery has great stats because she had a lot of playing time, but she made the most of her playing time," Jones said. "Coming off the bench, Jorja Waxweiler in the middle did a great job, especially defensively. I know I am lucky to be able to go to the bench and have girls that know how to play basketball."

Jones said out of her 12 players, all but three scored points.

Lady Miners vs. Guernsey Lady Vikings

The Lady Miners kept up their winning ways as they traveled to Guernsey where they won 53-7.

"Once again, I was able to play a lot of the younger girls with the starters," Jones said. "Just looking at different combinations, good things happened."

She said the team continued the goal of not taking breaks on defense.

"Every girl that played in the game contributed, whether it was with points, assists but more so defensively," Jones said. "So we had a good day and were fortunate to get the win."

Jones said both Amy Campbell and Taylor Scott were in double figures, which pleased her, but she said young player Jamie Jeorgeson did a nice job rebounding the ball offensively and scored a few points.

"Its neat to see girls like her step into a game like this, because it is a varsity game against a conference team, and see them contribute," Jones said. "It helps the team to be quite honest. We were balanced from buzzer to buzzer."

Jones said the coming week is going to be tough. They face Farson-Eden on January 28, host Wind River on January 29 and play Kaycee on January 30.

"We have our work cut out for us this week, but I believe this team is up for the challenge," Jones concluded.

 

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