Lady Tigers set to build on last season

Encampment girl's basketball team may have ended their season with a 27-33 loss to Cokeville last year, but head coach Amy Clay sees that game as motivation for this season.

"We lost to them by about 20 in the past two games we played them," Clay said. "And that game we were with them right up until the end."

Clay said she is very excited for this coming year. In the opening days of practice, Clay has her team undergoing up-tempo practices to get in shape. They have been working with ball handling and passing and incorporating it with their conditioning to prepare her girls for compeition.

"I don't want the kids to run just to run," Clay said about her conditioning policies. "If you can do things with a basketball, you are ahead both ways. So that what I like to try to do"

Their practices mirror their playing style. The Lady Tigers are planning on pushing the ball up the court this year and using quick transition offense to catch their opponents off guard.

Defensively Clay hopes they can effectively play full-court press man defense, but said they will adjust depending on their opponent.

The Lady Tigers bring back two talented players in Alyssa Barkhurst and Cassidy Little. As a sophomore, Barkhurst put up an impressive 11.9 points per game (which was ninth in 1A), and a dazzling 55 percent field goal percentage, which was good enough to tie her for first place in 1A and fourth place state-wide. Little returns from an all-state caliber season as the Lady Tiger's leading scorer with 12.96 points per game.

While Barkhurst and Little will be big factors for the Lady Tigers this season, once there are players who win awards, Clay says it puts a big target on their back.

"Other teams are going to start double-teaming them. I think a lot of the other kids I have are going to pick up some of that slack," Clay said.

Clay's team has no shortage of experience. Out of the 10 players on the roster, the Lady Tigers have five returning players. The experience is going to create quality competition for starting spots come game time. Jenny Morgan, who led 1A in blocked shots, was their only graduating senior last year.

"All positions are open," Clay said. "In a small school where you only have ten kids, sometimes they think they have positions handed to them. But not these girls - these girls are going for it. They don't care if they are competing against a senior or a freshman."

The 1A Southwest will be the conference to beat again this year. With teams such as Little Snake River (Baggs) (23-5 overall in 2013-14) and Cokeville (19-7 overall in 2013-14) returning many starters, Clay said this year will be a battle for the conference crown.

"I don't know how it's going to turn out," Clay said. "(Little Snake River) lost some girls, but we lost some key players. So who knows. We will see."

The Lady Tigers begin their season Friday at the Carbon County Classic in Hanna.