HEM girls work to dig out wins

"The girls play hard and with heart," Jackie Jones, Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners head coach, said. "But quite frankly, after playing well and hard, they just ran out of gas."

Jones is talking about the two losses the HEM Lady Miners suffered against the Saratoga Lady Panthers (52-27) and the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (33-22).

"We are never looking for sympathy, but our kids are playing to the buzzer and they don't complain and just keep working," Jones said. "On the weekend I felt Avery Scott had some of her best basketball yet. Scoring wise, passing wise, she had a great weekend in basketball. She was awarded the sportsmanship in Farson and her game has started to evolve."

Another player Jones thought did an excellent job this weekend was Sammantha Tylka.

"Sam moved to Hanna this year from Rock Springs and has never played basketball," Jones said. "Her rate of improvement is just amazing. I think one of the things that makes Sam stand out is her play of defense. She knows that is the one thing she can control is her effort level and she gets it."

Losing Jamie Jeorgesen, the tallest player on the team at 5' 6", to injury has the team topping out at 5' 5".

"We are a small team in size compared to a lot of teams and when you get shoved around for four quarters without anyone really getting much of a rest, it wears on you," Jones said. "Saratoga has several great players as does Farson and our goal every game is not just focus on the scoreboard, but to focus more on the positive things that happen in the game."

Jones wants the team to keep confident even when they feel a bit overwhelmed by the other team.

"I told the girls at halftime at the Saratoga game, 'I don't even want you to look at the scoreboard, because you are working so hard and there is so much effort, that goes a long ways with me'," Jones said. "In small schools there are times where you just don't have the kids to have a large bench, but with this team, I have girls that want to be here and play basketball. I will take drive and desire of the individual to play on my team over having just bodies."

The Lady Miners will play the Midwest Lady Oilers on January 21 and then take on the Guernsey-Sunrise Lady Vikings on January 22 at HEM starting at noon.