Lady Rattlers head to state

The Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers will be headed to the 1A State Basketball Tournament this weekend after taking 3rd at the 1A West Regional Tournament in Lander.

Working their way through a total of four games, the Lady Rattlers worked matched up against the Dubois Lady Rams, the Burlington Lady Huskies, the Encampment Lady Tigers and the Saratoga Lady Panthers.

This will be the first trip to the state tournament for the LSRV girls with Head Coach Mark Gillies, who took over from Jodi Stanley who coached from 1986 until last season.

“We had a good weekend and are really excited to go to state,” said Gillies.

Lady Rattlers vs. Lady Rams

The quarterfinal round of the regional tournament saw the Lady Rattlers face off against Dubois, who were ranked 3rd in the 1A Northwest with an 0-4 conference record. 

“We came out really well and had a good game against Dubois,” Gillies said. “All of our girls contributed and it was a great way to start the weekend.”

Leading LSRV against the Lady Rams was Cashley Criswell, who scored 9 points and had 3 rebounds and 4 steals. Skylynn Ready scored 8 points and had 3 rebounds and 2 steals while Catrina Habel scored 8 points and had 3 rebounds. Katelynn Englehart scored 8 points and had 4 rebounds and 3 steals.

The final score was 60-27, Lady Rattlers.

Lady Rattlers vs. Lady Huskies

After sinking their fangs into the Lady Rams, LSRV went on to the semifinal round to face the Lady Huskies. Burlington had entered the 1A West Regional Tournament as the No. 1 Northwest Seed and had an undefeated 4-0 conference record.

The Lady Huskies would deal LSRV their sole loss of the weekend.

“It felt like we couldn’t make a shot and Burlington played really well,” said Gillies. “They are a good team and have two great players, (Kelsi) Nicholson and (Jessie) Michaels. They are really hard to stop defensively.”

Though the Lady Rattlers played well in the 1st quarter, the 2nd quarter didn’t go as well for them and they fell behind.

“We fought really hard all game to get back into the game and got within 6 (points) at one point,” Gillies said. “I was really proud of how hard we played that game, it just didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”

Of the 53 points scored against Burlington, 23 of those came from Ready, who also had 11 rebounds and 6 steals. Kinlie Montgomery scored 10 points and had 12 rebounds and 2 assists and Evans scored 9 points and had 9 rebounds and 2 assists.

The final score was 65-53, Burlington.

Lady Rattlers vs. Lady Tigers

Falling into the consolation bracket, the Lady Rattlers faced Encampment on Saturday morning for the consolation semifinals. The Lady Tigers had dealt a loss to the Meeteetse Lady Longhorns the day before to stay in the regional tournament and vie for a spot at the state tournament.

“It took us a little bit to get going and Encampment came out really strong,” said Gillies. “Once we settled down, though, we were able to take control of the game and pull it out. The Saturday morning elimination games are really hard to play in. There is just a lot on the line and both teams are nervous and play hard. I was really proud that our girls were able to pull it off.”

Evans took the lead against the Lady Tigers, scoring 16 points. Evans also had 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Ready followed with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals while Regina Herrera scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds and 2 steals.

The final score was 54-31, Lady Rattlers.

Lady Rattlers vs. Lady Panthers

After their win against Encampment, the Lady Rattlers had secured a spot in the state tournament, it was just a matter of seeding as they played against Saratoga in the 3rd place game.

The 3rd/4th place game is also a hard game to play. It is the fourth game in three days and both teams played less than two hours before,” Gillies said. “I was pleased how well we played and how hard they played.”

Ready was the leader against Saratoga as she scored 15 points and had 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals. Banessa Saenz followed with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Evans scored 6 points and had 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Montgomery also scored 6 points and had 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal.

The final score was 46-26, Lady Rattlers.

The LSRV Lady Rattlers will be entering the 1A State Basketball Tournament as the No. 3 seed. They will face the No. 2 East seed, the Upton Lady Bobcats, in the quarterfinal round at 4:30 p.m. on March 3 at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper.