Miners keep trying

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miner High School basketball team faced one of the strongest basketball teams in the state for their first game of the season. The Burlington Huskies beat the Miners in a convincing manner. The HEM team didn’t get a lot of time to get more experience under their belts before meeting again on December 15.

“Difficult start to the tournament opening up with Burlington again on Friday,” HEM head basketball coach Cliff Jones said.  “We played better as the tournament progressed.” Burlington 7-1, beat the Miners 80 to 17.

The next game went better as Jones said. The Miners faced the Shoshoni Wranglers on Saturday and although the Miners still came away with a loss, Jones was happy to see how much better the team played in the second game. The Wranglers won 64 to 21. The Shoshoni basketball team is 5-1.

The last game the Miners played on Saturday was against the Meeteetse Longhorns. The Miners played their best game of the tournament.

“Naythen Atencio is starting to figure out that he really can play varsity basketball at this level,” Jones said. Atencio is a freshman and Jones is glad to see the player improve as the early season rolls on.

Unfortunately for the Miners, although they played competitively, they lost the game to the Longhorns 57 to 37. The Longhorns are 3-3.

The Miners are presently 1-5.

Jones knows the team is still coming together. “The freshman will benefit from some JV time after the break, but they are doing some good things,‘’ Jones commented. “The five non-freshman that compose our starting unit are also showing signs of improvement.” Jones knows there is talent on the Miner team, but many of these players are learning what their abilities are. “I think as the kids become more comfortable in their roles, we will become more competitive,” Jones concluded.

The Miners will return from the break to play Southeast Cyclones in Southeast. The Cyclones are 7-1.