Lady Miners do a split

On January 19 the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) girls High School basketball team faced Rock River and although the game had some excellent moments for the Lady Miners, the Lady Longhorns prevailed. The score in favor of Rock River was 50 to 21."After the game was over, I asked the girls, 'who were starters last year?'" HEM head girls basketball coach said. "Two girls raised their hands. I am not going to use the inexperienced card, but that is who we are. Rock River is a good basketball team, with good shooters, and an excellent post player in Niaomi Moore."Jones did see some bright spots in a game that didn't go the Lady Miners' way."I thought Hanna Gonzales probably played her best game of the season," Jones said. "Especially coming off an ankle that had been injured. She shot well and rebounded. I think Justiine Widdison played another strong game. I was also tickled with Jaidyn Booth who has had little varsity play time, but she is always listening. Today she got put in a defensive position she had never played before and she worked hard and did well. I will take a player like that any day."Jones said the point she drove home with her girls when the game finished was not to give up."I told them never to give up on themselves and not to give up on the team," Jones said. "In turn we coaches will never give up on them. We get losing is not fun, but as a team you have to bounce back and realize tomorrow is another day."It was another day when the Lady Miners played the Guernsey Lady Vikings. This time HEM came out on top 31 to 28."We fought hard and got a conference win against Guernsey," Jones said. "Hanna Gonzales and Justine Widdison provided key scoring." The Lady Miner coach was pleased with other players on the team too."Freshmen Madison Widdison and Bella Vaipuna were key contributors in our post defense. Mackenzie Priest, Jamie Jeorgesen, and Sara Sikes were also very important pieces of our defensive scheme," Jones said. "The girls worked from the tip-off to the final buzzer to get the win."The Lady Miners won 31 to 28. Next week the Lady Miners will face Farson-Eden on Saturday at home.