Lady Miners ride rollercoaster to No. 3 seed

Like the mine cart scene in an action movie, the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners took their fans on a rollercoaster this past week. On Tuesday, the Lady Miners hosted the Encampment Lady Tigers for a major loss. Then, on Friday, HEM hosted the Guernsey-Sunrise Lady Vikings for a conference win. On Saturday, the Lady Miners hosted the Southeast Lady Cyclones for a conference loss.

The end result of the rollercoaster ride was a No. 3 seeding at the 1A East Regional Tournament for HEM.

Lady Miners vs. Lady Tigers

"We knew we were up against a tremendous basketball team," said Head Coach Jackie Jones. "They came out and took care of us pretty easily/ I can say there was no give up on the girls, who just kept fighting even though the score was not going well for us."

Jones said all the players came out playing their hardest, whether it was the five starters or any of the seven that came off the bench.

"That is the great thing about this group of girls," Jones said. "They are a collective team."

In the end, the Lady Tigers dealt a 42-7 loss to HEM.

Lady Miners vs. Lady Vikings

Jones said the game against the Guernsey-Sunrise was the focus of the three games the Lady Miners played last week. HEM had defeated the Lady Vikings earlier in the season and another win would make them the third seed in the 1A Southeast Conference.

"It was our focus in practice. We knew we had to take care of Guernsey," Jones said. "At all costs, we wanted to stay away from that 4th seed placing. If we had lost it would have been a coin toss. So we worked specific defenses adjusted to their game."

Jones' and the team's efforts paid off.

The Lady Miners won 33-25.

Despite the win, the game had a few moments where it looked like HEM might end up with a loss. They shot ahead by 10 points in the first half and looked to have the game well in hand. Then, in the 4th quarter, the Lady Vikings made a run and tied the score 19-19. To the credit of the Lady Miners, they did not panic as some key plays were made and HEM came out on top.

"I have a few more gray hairs after the game, but there were some outstanding plays by the girls, " Jones said. "Mackenzie Priest had her best game of the season, Jaime Jeorgesen with her high scoring and Hanna Gonzales hitting the points when she needed to, all combined with the other girls to a real team effort. Every girl that stepped on the floor that game contributed to the win."

Jones said it was good for the team to know they earned their third seed position.

Lady Miners vs. Lady Cyclones

On Saturday, HEM faced the No. 1 team in the Southeast Conference and were blown away with a 50 point deficit as the Lady Cyclones swept the game with a score of 53-3.

"I thought Coach Scheer did a tremendous job and was very sportsmanlike," Jones said. "Her starters didn't get a quarter of the total playing time. I honestly don't even know how good Southeast is. The starters can do everything and the girls they followed them with, you could tell they were just excellent."

Jones said there was no shame in losing by 50 points to a team like Southeast.

"They are truly that good," Jones said. "It was no fun to get beat like we did. Hands down, it feels terrible, but I can't take anything away from Southeast because they really are an excellent team playing great basketball right now. I am very impressed."

Jones said the rollercoaster of the past week has helped her see what needs more work for regionals.

"This is a bunch of girls, no matter what our record, work really hard every practice and every game," Jones said. "As a coach, I can't ask any more and be any prouder."

The HEM Lady Miners will take on the No. 2 Northeast Kaycee Lady Bucks at 9 a.m. on February 23 to begin the 1A East Regional Tournament in Buffalo.