Contributing in a real positive way

Coming off of winter break, the Encampment Lady Tigers hosted two games in Tiger Nation over the weekend. With a largely young team, the Lady Tigers are still working on finding their groove on the court. Despite that, Encampment ended their weekend with one loss and one win and an idea on how to move forward in the season. On Friday, the Lady Tigers fell by 2 points to the Rock River Lady Longhorns and, on Saturday, beat the North Park Lady Wildcats by 7 points.

"We're kind of having a freshman kind of season where the majority of our team are freshmen, so they're prone to make some mistakes," said Clint Bromley, head coach of the Lady Tigers.

Lady Tigers vs.

Lady Longhorns

For their first game following the holidays, Encampment hosted the Lady Longhorns and appeared to get off to a slow start. Within the 1st quarter of the game, the Lady Tigers struggled with turnovers and Rock River would end up getting 8 points on the scoreboard while Encampment remained scoreless going into the 2nd quarter.

Following the rocky start, a basket from freshman Cora Schroeder appeared to be the momentum the Lady Tigers needed to get moving on the hardwood. While the Lady Longhorns were still leading, Encampment brought the score within a single point before going into halftime with Schroeder putting up seven baskets against Rock River.

In the 2nd half, the Lady Tigers would continue to work to control their home court against Rock River. While Encampment worked on stepping up their offense, putting 6 points on the board in the 3rd quarter, they also increased their defense and kept the Lady Longhorns from high scoring.

The final quarter of the game was a battle for both teams as the Lady Tigers continued to swipe at Rock River and close the gap. The opening seconds saw Encampment tie the score with the Lady Longhorns, something that would happen two more times throughout the last 8 minutes of the game.

In the final seconds of the game, Rock River slipped ahead by two points. Despite a last second attempt to tie the score a fourth time, the Lady Tigers fell to the Lady Longhorns 34-36.

"We played well in three of the four quarters and that is not enough to beat a good team in Wyoming. You have to play a complete game," C. Bromley said. "Cora Schroeder came out and played great, had her best game of the season, but basically in that game we didn't get enough shots up to win the ball game."

Schroeder led the Lady Tigers against Rock River with 18 points and 5 rebounds. Junior Lizzi James followed with 8 points and 7 rebounds and freshman Allison Bromley had 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Lady Tigers vs.

Lady Wildcats

On Saturday, Encampment didn't appear to let the loss to the Lady Longhorns affect them as they took to the court. The Lady Tigers would also be forced to play without Schroeder, who had put up the tiger's share of baskets the day before. The girls, however, would come out of the game with a significant win.

"I thought this was our best game of the year with everyone getting involved in the offense and being more active on defense," C. Bromley said. "This is the type of basketball that we need to play to be successful during the conference season."

The work on offense and defense was obvious within the first few minutes of the 1st quarter. While Encampment hadn't been able to put points on the board within the first three minutes, neither did the Lady Wildcats.

The first scores for the Lady Tigers were from junior Grace Tieszen at the free-throw line. As the first eight minutes of the game came to an end, Encampment was tied with the Lady Wildcats.

As the 1st half continued, the Lady Tigers trailed North Park as the Lady Wildcats shot successful 3-pointers. Encampment went into half-time trailing 18-22.

When the Lady Tigers went back on the court, it was with more drive. Two 3-points from freshman Peyton Munroe helped put Encampment back in the game and, with three minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Lady Tigers were tied 28-28 with North Park. Keeping their momentum, Encampment went into the final quarter leading the Lady Wildcats.

In the 4th quarter, North Park attempted to regain the lead and looked as if they might deal the Lady Tigers their second loss of the weekend. With 1:45 left in the game, Encampment was leading by three points 48-45. In that final minute, the Lady Tigers would keep North Park from scoring while putting up 4 more points.

The final score was 52-45.

"We played with a little more intensity and a little more urgency and I think it helped us out a little bit. (Playing) without Cora made me a little nervous but, when you look in the scorebook, every one of them in there contributed in a real positive way," said C. Bromley. "I think that's the direction we need to head."

Munroe scored 10 points against North Park and was followed by Shiann Finney and Maren Baker with 8 points. James also scored 8 points and had 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. A. Bromley scored 7 points and had 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals while Amber Stubbs scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals and Grace Tiezen scored 5 points and had 5 rebounds.

Following the weekend, the Lady Tigers are 3-4 for the season and will start conference play this week as they are hosted by the Saratoga Lady Panthers, who are also 3-4 for their season.

"Our conference is, without a doubt, the toughest in the state and to be able to play in this conference provides a team with valuable lessons that can be used to propel your team to a state championship in the future," C. Bromley said. "We are a young team that is learning more every day and, to be competitive in the conference, we are going to have to rely on an unselfish team oriented style of play every time we hit the floor."

The Encampment Lady Tigers will face-off against the Saratoga Lady Panthers at 6 p.m. on January 9 at Saratoga Middle High School.