Lady Huskies clinch top seed

The Burlington Lady Huskies wrapped the regular season last week with wins over Powell’s JV and Riverside. Burlington will go into the Class 1A West Regional this week with an overall record of 19-4 and a conference record of 8-0.

Tuesday night against Powell, the Lady Huskies came out strong, outscoring Powell 25-13 in the first quarter. “The girls were being aggressive on offense and everyone was a threat,” said Coach Cheryl Haslam. “We haven’t had much outside scoring for a few games and we were able to get a few threes again finally; that was good to see.”

Powell started the second quarter with a press that frustrated the Huskies for a time but they adjusted in the second half and finished the game strong, winning 70-48. “We just need to make smarter passes when we are pressured. The scoring continues to be spread out and that’s what we want to see going into regionals this week.”

Naomi McNiven had a big game, earning a double-double with 21 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and five steals. Paxton Philpott followed with 19 points, five rebounds and two steals. Breanne Walker led the team in assists and steals with six each and added seven points.

Friday night, the Lady Huskies faced Riverside in their last conference game. It proved to be another great match up with a close score the entire game. “This was a rough game, but it was a good one for the girls to have to push through and fight for the win,” said Haslam. “We had a few girls in foul trouble early on, so they were playing a bit more timid on defense than we normally do. We knew we would need to try to shut down their best player and they did a much better job this game. They held her to 12 points, rather than the 22 she scored against us last time. That was good to see, even with the timidness on defense.”

Burlington had a surge in the 4th quarter and held Riverside to just three points, which gave them the 44-37 win. “They did a pretty good job adjusting to Riverside’s defense and doing what they needed to do on offense. They did better at seeing open shots and our turnovers were down this game. That is one of our team goals, so that was nice to see. We’ve also been increasing our assists number each game. It’s great to see them all playing together as a team.” 

N. McNiven led the team with 14 points and five rebounds. Sarah McNiven had 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Walker had eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and five points. 

The Lady Huskies will be in Lander for regionals and face Encampment Thursday with a tip-off at 12:30 p.m. 

Powell JV  13  11  16    8 – 48

Burlington  25  14  17 14 – 70

BURLINGTON – Walker 3-11 0-0 7, McNulty 0-0 1-2 1, S. McNiven 3-8 0-0 6, Philpott 8-16 2-2 19, N. McNiven 9-20 2-6 21, Winterholler 3-7 1-2 7, Bassett 4-8 0-0 9. Totals 30-70 6-12 70. 

3-POINT GOALS - Walker 1, Philpott 1, N. McNiven 1, Bassett 1. REBOUNDS – Burlington 42 (N. McNiven 12, Winterholler 9, S. McNiven 8). STEALS – Burlington 20 (Walker 6, N. McNiven 5). ASSISTS – Burlington 14 (Walker 6, N. McNiven 4). TURNOVERS – Burlington 27. 

Riverside  10  11 13  3 – 37

Burlington 15   8   9  12 – 44 

BURLINGTON – Walker 1-11 2-2 5, S. McNiven 4-14 2-4 10, Philpott 2-7 2-4 6, N. McNiven 6-12 2-5 14, Winterholler 2-6 1-2 5, Bassett 2-8 0-2 4. Totals 17-58 9-19 44. 

3-POINT GOALS – Walker 1. REBOUNDS – Burlington 38 (S. McNiven 9, Walker 8). STEALS – Burlington 12 (Philpott 5). ASSISTS – Burlington 11 (Walker 5). TURNOVERS – Burlington 16.