Lady Tigers battle to the end

The Lady Tigers (0-6), (1-15) struggled to score against the Farson-Eden (3-3), (10-7) Lady Pronghorns Friday night in Encampment, head coach Amy Clay said in an email.

The Tigers scored only 2 points to the Pronghorns 7 in the first quarter. Cassidy Little managed to score 7 points during the game despite the Pronghorns keying on her defensively.

“Our man defense did a great job on their 3-point shooters,” Clay said. The Pronghorns had scored five 3s the last time they played the Tigers. Friday the Pronghorns didn’t have any 3-pointers.

In the second quarter the Tigers were able to get 4 points on the board to the Pronghorns 10, with a score of 6-17 at halftime.

During the third quarter the Lady Tigers nearly doubled their score with 5 points added to the board and kept the Pronghorns to 4 points. The Pronghorns still had a lead of 10 points.

Michelle Hooker added 2 points to the board during the third quarter which was followed by 2 points from Little. Little was fouled during a shot and added another point with a free throw.

The Tigers kept the Pronghorns from scoring for over four minutes into the fourth quarter, but could not hit the bucket on the offensive side.

“Our passing and offensive execution was not as sharp at times,” Clay said.

Jennifer Morgan made 2 of her 4 points with 40 seconds remaining in the game. It was the only score the Tigers had in the final quarter.

The final score was 13-23.

Saturday, the Lady Tigers (0-7), (1-16) were matched up against the Cokeville Lady Panthers (8-1), (18-2) for their homecoming game.

The Lady Tigers lost momentum in the first quarter when they were outscored by the Lady Panthers 3-18. Despite a resounding comeback, the Tigers would have to close the 15-point gap by the end of the game.

“(It was) a much better game for us,” Amy Clay said. “We tend to play up or down to the level of our opponent.”

The second quarter started with the Tigers running the floor. The Panthers could not miss and the Tigers could not hit.

In the second half of the second quarter, when it seemed the Tigers had been run ragged, they got their second wind and put the pressure on. The Tigers scored 11 points and took advantage of the Panthers’ mistakes.

“Cokeville is a well-coached team and plays very disciplined,” Clay said. “I told the girls to stick to fundamental basketball and we did.”

The halftime buzzer sounded with the Panthers up 16-32.

“We focused on making the easy pass, jump stops and running our offenses.” It paid off and the Tigers outscored the Panthers in the third quarter 15 -14.

“The first half lead was too much for the Tigers to overcome,” Clay said. “The girls continue to battle no matter the score and that makes me very proud of them.”

Alyssa Barkhurst took advantage of her ability to shoot outside the lane and scored 13 points shooting 56 percent from the field.

At the end of the third quarter, the score was 22-36.

Cassidy Little dug in with her usual tenacity and score 16 points and had nine rebounds.

Jennifer Morgan blocked five shots and had seven rebounds.

Hooker, a 4 foot, 9 inch junior grabbed four rebounds, had two steals and zero turnovers.

Despite the Tiger’s third quarter comeback, they fell to the Panthers 29-46.

“We shot 69 percent from the free throw line,” Clay said. “I wish we could play well back-to-back.” She was pleased with how well the girls responded after the Farson-Eden game.

The Lady Tigers have one more conference game Friday against Little Snake River. The teams meet at Encampment at 4 p.m.

Saturday, the Tigers travel to Saratoga for one last Valley rival game at 4 p.m.