Lady Tiger Champs

Encampment started at fourth seed in the state tournament Thursday and faced Lingle, Little Snake River, and St. Stevens on their way to the state 1A championship.

Quarter Finals Vs. Lingle

Lady Tigers head basketball coach Clint Bromley started off describing Thursday's quarter final matchup with the Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers by saying, "When you have four players in double figures and two with double–doubles you are hard to beat."

Micaiah Pantle recorded her best game of the season with 14 points and 4 rebounds while three other bigs played an outstanding game in the 51-36 win for the Lady Tigers. Of those three, Hailey Barkhurst dropped in 14 points going 10 for 11 from the free throw line while adding 4 boards; Paige Powell chipped in 10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals while Noelle Peterson put up 10 points and 10 rebounds to contribute to the win.

"The event center is a difficult place to play for anyone and requires a lot of focus," Bromley added, "And to score 51 points in that setting is a great accomplishment for our team."

Semi Finals Vs LSRV

Friday, the Lady Tigers took a 50–44 win from Carbon County rivals the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers.

Coach Bromley attributed the win to good rebounding saying, "Again we had three players in double figures and we were able to keep LSRV off of the boards winning that battle 40 to 20. When the rebounding margin is that wide you usually win the game."

He added that out-rebounding a team was not necessarily a winning formula though. "We did win that battle against LSRV earlier in the year and they won that game, so you never know." he said.

In the game, Paige Powell had 15 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks, Noelle Peterson added 14 points and 6 rebounds while Micaiah Pantle put in 12 points.

Another factor in the 6-point win was the defense. "We were Encampment started at fourth seed in the state tournament Thursday and faced Lingle, Little Snake River, and St. Stevens on their way to the state 1A championship.

Quarter Finals Vs. Lingle

Lady Tigers head basketball coach Clint Bromley started off describing Thursday's quarter final matchup with the Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers by saying, "When you have four players in double figures and two with double–doubles you are hard to beat."

Micaiah Pantle recorded her best game of the season with 14 points and 4 rebounds while three other bigs played an outstanding game in the 51-36 win for the Lady Tigers. Of those three, Hailey Barkhurst dropped in 14 points going 10 for 11 from the free throw line while adding 4 boards; Paige Powell chipped in 10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals while Noelle Peterson put up 10 points and 10 rebounds to contribute to the win.

"The event center is a difficult place to play for anyone and requires a lot of focus," Bromley added, "And to score 51 points in that setting is a great accomplishment for our team."

Semi Finals Vs LSRV

Friday, the Lady Tigers took a 50–44 win from Carbon County rivals the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers.

Coach Bromley attributed the win to good rebounding saying, "Again we had three players in double figures and we were able to keep LSRV off of the boards winning that battle 40 to 20. When the rebounding margin is that wide you usually win the game."

He added that out-rebounding a team was not necessarily a winning formula though. "We did win that battle against LSRV earlier in the year and they won that game, so you never know." he said.

In the game, Paige Powell had 15 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks, Noelle Peterson added 14 points and 6 rebounds while Micaiah Pantle put in 12 points.

Another factor in the 6-point win was the defense. "We were able to limit their points from the 3–point line better than we had during the regular season and that helped contribute to the win," said Bromley."I thought that was the best defensive effort we had put together this season and the final score reflected that."

Overtime Championship

Saturday, the Lady Tigers had a claw-biter in the state championship game against the St. Stevens Lady Eagles. It took a cohesive team effort for the Lady Tigers to come away with the 59-50 win in overtime.

"Our post players came out and took care of the paint on both ends," said Bromley. "(The Lady Tigers) controlled the boards and won that battle 51 to 29 which kept the Eagles from getting second chances like they did the week before."

In the game, Encampment got off a season-high 78 shots while holding St. Stevens to only 63 attempts. Noting that differential, Bromley said, "Those additional 15 shots were the difference in the game for sure."

Garnering double-doubles were Noelle Peterson with 26 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals while Paige Powell added 18 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and a pair of blocks.

Other key contributors were Hailey Barkhurst with 8 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal; McKenzie Powell 4 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal; Cheyanne Jordan with 3 points and Micaiah Pantle who grabbed 5 rebounds.

"As a team we came together this week better than we had all season and we had a common focus," Bromley said

Bromley described his team's unifying spirit, "We made a group decision to only listen to the bench and do our best to tune out the crowd and focus on the task at hand without those distractions."

Bromley continued, "We also came to the decision that 'We are One' and that it didn't matter who made the winning basket or who got the critical rebound, steal or assist; but rather cumulatively we could all be the State Champions if 'team' was our focus."

Of the overtime period, coach Bromley noted, "We came out with the desire to win and the guards got the ball to the people who had carried us all year."

In the extra frame, Peterson, Powell and Barkhurst combined for 13 points compared to only 4 for the entire Lady Eagles team.

The outcome earned the Lady Tigers the sweet taste of championship success for the first time since 2005.