Lady Tigers prepare to close season

Despite their best attempts throughout the season, the clock has run out for the Encampment Lady Tigers as they attempted to secure a conference win and find a way into the regional tournament. On Friday, the Lady Tigers were hosted by the Cokeville Lady Panthers (16-2, 6-0) and were hosted by the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (7-3, 2-5) on Saturday.

“I think we played hard this weekend overall. We were a little short on players because two of our juniors were hurt but I still think we had one of our best and most consistent games we have had all season despite some injuries and foul trouble,” said junior Lizzi James.

One injury before the home game against the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners on January 31 sidelined Grace Tieszen. Then, before hitting the road this weekend, Shiann Finney was sidelined as well.

Lady Tigers vs.

Lady Panthers

When Encampment and the Lady Panthers last faced each other, it was in Tiger Nation and Cokeville was able to escape the claws of the Lady Tigers with a 35-point lead. With two juniors out this time around, Encampment would struggle against the Lady Panthers on the road.

The final score against Cokeville was 13-58.

Lady Tigers vs.

Lady Pronghorns

With one loss already, Encampment went on to face the Lady Pronghorns. While Farson-Eden dealt a loss to the Lady Tigers earlier in the season, this time Encampment was able to keep the lead from mirroring that of their game in January. While the Lady Pronghorns had left Tiger Nation with a with a 23-point lead last month, this weekend Encampment kept that lead low with only 14 points.

The final score against Farson-Eden was 30-44.

While these two final conference games mean that the Lady Tigers won’t be moving on following the end of the regular season, the team is looking on the positives. One of those is that they will not be losing any seniors between this season and next.

“We are looking forward to next season because we won’t be losing anyone, except Maren (Baker) if Dubois has a team next year,” James said. “We are just planning on ending the season strong this weekend and being able to pick up where we left off next year with some more experience and continue growing our skills.”

James admits that this season didn’t go as planned. She believes, however, that the Lady Tigers learned a lot over the season.

“All we could do was just keep improving each week and playing each game and I believe we did that,” said James. “I think we will use this year to learn from in seasons to come.”

Following the two losses this weekend, the Lady Tigers are 5-13 for the season and 0-8 in conference play.

Encampment has three final games this week, all on the road. The Lady Tigers will face the HEM Lady Miners on February 20 at 4:30 p.m. in Hanna, the Rock River Lady Longhorns on February 21 at 4 p.m. in Rock River and the North Park Lady Wildcats on February 22 at 1 p.m. in Walden, Colorado.