BY MARLYS GOOD
The Burlington Lady Huskies set some definite goals before the basketball season began. First was winning the conference championship, a goal they attained last week by ending the regular season undefeated. The next is winning the West Regional championship in Lander and that goal gets kick-started today when they take on Farson-Eden at 7 p.m. in the Fieldhouse. The final goal is winning the 1A State crown, but the Lady Huskies have to get there first.
“When you look at it, the three top-rated (1A) teams are in this regional tournament. We’ll have to beat both Cokeville and Snake River to win the championship — unless there’s an upset, and Meeteetse is capable of doing that,” Coach Jerry Patrick said.
Both Cokeville and Little Snake River have just a single loss apiece, they split in conference play. “They must be doing something pretty well,” Patrick said. “Cokeville will fast break, they do that very well, and they press and they play tough man-to-man defense. Little Snake River uses a zone press, are very quick and very athletic. To beat those two we’ll have to be on top of our game. We can’t think we’ll just walk in and win. Being ranked No. 1 all year, we have a big target on our back, and on our front, and everywhere else. Other teams play their best when they get on the floor with us. We have to have that same intensity and focus.”
Janet Davidson is still nursing an injury and will not play this weekend. “We need to get her back for state, if we get there,” Patrick said. “She is an important player off the bench.”
The keys to winning remain the same as they have all year — playing good tough, aggressive defense without fouling — stop the reaching, Patrick said. “And we need to focus on our offenses and execute.”
The Lady Huskies held two opponents to single-digit scoring in all four quarters, and 18 points total in their final outings of the regular season. They beat Ten Sleep, 54-18 on Friday and closed it out Saturday with a 49-18 defeat of the Riverside Lady Rebels.
Holding a 19-3 lead at Ten Sleep, Coach Jerry Patrick said, “We had the game won pretty much after the first quarter — we got 11 girls into the game.”
In Riverside, Burlington held the Lady Rebels to six, three, two and seven points, respectively, in the four quarters. “We played pretty good defense, stayed in their face and didn’t give them too many shots. But we didn’t play well either — didn’t shoot well and were kind of flat in the second half.”
Patrick credited Riverside for “playing well and playing teams tough. I think our defense did a real nice job — teams don’t play well against us because of that.”
With six seniors on the roster, this weekend (and hopefully state the following weekend) will be their last time out. “I hope they take advantage of it. I think our kids will come together and play well as a team.”
Burlington 54, Ten Sleep 18
Burlington: Lyndsey Wardell 14, Brecka Carrizales 13, Paige Neves 13, Esmeralda Zubia 6, Alysha Henderson 2, Camilla Jones 2, Sadie Neves 2, Jessica Stanworth 2. FG: 22-50. 3-POINTERS: 2-5 (Zubia, Carrizales). FT: 8-12. REBOUNDS: 20 (Henderson 4, Wardell 4). ASSISTS: 11 (Carrizales 5). STEALS: 15 (Carrizales 4, P. Neves 4). TO: 14. FOULS: 13.
Burlington: 19 15 17 3 - 54
Ten Sleep: 3 7 4 4 - 18
Burlington 49, Riverside 18.
Burlington: Wardell 14, Zubia 8, Henderson 6, Carrizales 7, Jesse Flores 5, P. Neves 5, Stanworth 2, Jones 2. FG: 21-69. 3-POINTERS: 2-7 (Wardell, Flores). FT: 5-7. REBOUNDS: 41 (Wardell 9, Neves 9). ASSISTS: 11 (P. Neves 4). STEALS: 22 (Carrizales 5, Neves 4). TURNOVERS: 21. FOULS: 20.
Burlington: 16 9 15 9 - 49
Riverside: 6 3 2 7 - 18