Cassidy Little has her eye on the bucket as she goes in for a layup against North Park last Tuesday.
Encampment defense works to prevent North Park a chance at the bucket.
The Encampment Lady Tigers took on North Park and Rock River last week. The Tigers played much better basketball this week and the scores reflected the progress. The last time Encampment played North Park they were beaten by 30. This time the Lady Tigers fell just 4 points short of beating the Wildcats.
Alyssa Barkhurst scored well in the first and second quarters and the whole offense was passing the ball around and making good decisions about the shots they took. At the end of the first quarter, the Tigers were down by two; 4-6. Barkhurst started the second hitting two shots from the field and the Wildcats knew they were in a game. Lots of turnovers from both teams, including several traveling calls, kept the score low and Encampment held the lead at half time 12-9.
“We are learning to defend better,” coach Amy Clay said. “We have been working on reading defenses, making the easy pass and taking good shots.”
North Park came out of the locker room playing in a full court press but Encampment’s offense adjusted well. With good defensive rebounding and good freethrow shooting, the Lady Tigers gave North park a run for their money through the third.Clay’s girls didn’t fall to the third quarter jinx this time.
Barkhurst had an exceptional third quarter with two blocks, including one in the last seconds that put the crowd on their feet. The quarter ended with North Park up 20-24. Barkhurst finished the night with 13 points.
Encampment put up good defense and showed ball control in the fourth quarter. The Tigers were solid at the line and freethrows kept Encampment in the game. The Tigers shot 71 percent from the line on the night.
Traveling calls hampered the Lady Tigers at the end as they racked up four of five traveling calls in four minutes. The Lady Tigers fought to the buzzer including a big block from Jennifer Morgan and one from the arc late in the fourth. At the end of the game, North Park’s good shooting gave them the win 29-33.
“This group keeps working hard and always have smiles on their faces,” Clay said. “We are not satisfied and will continue to work on getting better every day. Randa, Michelle and Shawneka continue to improve and have worked on rebounding and making the safe, easy pass.”
On Friday night the Rock River Panthers were in the Encampment gym and the Lady Tigers started strong in the first quarter with Cassidy Little leading the way in scoring and the defense playing strong.
“We came out strong in the first quarter leading 7-2,” Clay said. “The second quarter they made a run on us and that ended up being the difference in the game as both teams scored 10 in the second half.”
The jinx had moved to the second quarter for the Lady Tigers. Turnovers and good scoring gave Rock River the advantage for the second half. Encampment was able to find shots on offense, but the ball didn’t fall at key moments. Encampment started the third with good steals and points from Michelle Hooker, and began to mount a comeback. The Lady Tigers trailed by just four points at the start of the fourth, but turnovers took the steam out of their push. The final buzzer sounded with Encampment down 25-34.
“I put in a new offense on Wednesday and was very pleased at how well we executed it,” Clay said. “They will get more confidence with it this week during practice. Every game presents a different challenge and we just have to continue to battle.”
Cassidy Little had a double, double against Rock River scoring 19 and pulling in 10 rebounds. Alyssa Barkhurst, Michelle Hooker and Jennifer Morgan all scored 2 points on the night. The Tigers will square off against Little Snake River on Friday at 3 p.m., and then travel to Hanna-Elk Mountain Medicine-Bow on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.
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