HEM visits Tiger nation

The last games the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School basketball teams got to play was back on February 8 against the Wheatland junior varsity teams. Both the Miners and Lady Miners won those games. Since then, weather has caused cancelations for every game scheduled until Saturday, when HEM got to face Encampment for the second time this season.

Lady Miners vs. Lady Tigers

The last time the Lady Miners and Lady Tigers met, it was at HEM and it was a close game. At half-time, it looked like the Lady Tigers were poised to try and upset the Lady Miners. The game was tied.

"Then we came out the 3rd quarter and we started putting things away," Lady Miner head basketball Jackie Jones said. "But even with that strong second half, you could tell we hadn't played basketball in a while."

It was also Amy Campbell's first game back since an injury that happened three weeks before.

"Encampment came ready to play and they were a good team for us to play," Jackie said. "They are a team that can put up a challenge and honestly we needed a good team to play just before going into regionals."

Campbell scored 8 points, about half her average, but Jackie was glad for her player to get some time on court against a strong team.

"With Amy getting back into the game after a long absence, other teammates stepped up," Jackie said. "Taylar (Scott) had a phenomenal game."

The high scorer for the team was Taylar Scott who contributed 16 points and she also got 6 steals. 

"Avery (Scott) was the second highest scorer with 11 points. So both Scott sisters were in double digits and that was nice to see," Jackie said. "Hannah Christie got 6 points and really contributed on the offense."

"We are thankful for what we get and just so happy we got this game in," Jackie said. "It was a good competitive game to go off to regionals."

The Lady Miners beat the Lady Tigers 43-36.

The regionals start on February 25 in Torrington and the Lady Miners are seeded second in the Southeast. They will face Rock River.

Miner vs. Tigers

HEM head basketball coach Cliff Jones knew that the rust had to come off when facing a team like Encampment. The Miners had not played a game for 11 days.

"We did not play well," Cliff said. "We had no answer for their game. Dalton Peterson had an excellent game against us."

Cliff said the Tigers forced the Miners turnovers and didn't allow HEM to get into any sort of rhythm.

"They played a very solid half-court defense which we weren't able to stop and they had some good runs and before you know it, a look at the scoreboard shows an insurmountable lead."

Cliff said there were few bright spots for HEM in their 27-63 loss.

"Not taking away from Encampment at all, but we played like a team that hadn't been in a game for two weeks," Cliff said. "We definitely were not as sharp as we should be going into the end of the season. At least we got to play a game and against a team like Encampment, we can hope playing made us better for regionals."

The Miners are seeded 2nd in the Southeast conference and will be facing Guernsey-Sunrise in Torrington.