Lady Huskies go 3-1 at tournament

The Lady Huskies had a successful weekend at the Big Horn Classic, beating Rocky Mountain, Worland and Wind River while losing only to Lovell. “I always like this tournament because it’s really good competition for us playing 2A and 3A teams. We had our ups and downs but it was a great learning experience and I am very proud of the way that they played,” said Coach Cheryl Haslam. 

Burlington started strong against Lovell on Friday morning, but quickly lost momentum and headed into halftime down by 20 points. “They were making a lot of bad passes and mistakes that Lovell converted into points. I was really worried that the girls would not be able to recover, but they did.  They showed some strength and great pride in themselves.” The Lady Huskies outscored Lovell in both the third and fourth quarters and recovered quite a bit of ground but the game ended in a 51-43 loss for the Huskies. Jessie Michaels led scorers with 16 points and seven rebounds and Dalley Bassett contributed nine points and seven rebounds. 

Next up was Rocky Mountain. “The girls were REALLY looking forward to this game because Rocky beat us in December and it was not a great game for us,” said Haslam. “The girls came out really strong. They were ready to play and you could tell. They were hustling on defense and really pushing the ball on offense.” The Lady Huskies went into half up 32-15. Rocky outscored the Lady Huskies 16-9 in the third, but the Lady Huskies picked up their defense and held Rocky to just six points in the fourth quarter and ended with a 49-37 lead. “We’ve really struggled in the past with the third quarter. We need to find a way to come out strong after every halftime. Our scoring was pretty spread out in this game as well; once again it’s nice to see them working so well together. This makes us harder to defend when we are all a threat on offense.” Michaels led the team with 12 points and six rebounds, Breanne Walker and Paxton Philpott both contributed nine points each and Naomi McNiven had eight points and five steals and Bassett had eight points and five rebounds. 

Burlington faced Worland Saturday morning. “I was glad to get to face them in this tournament because they have several big post players. We don’t get very much practice defending good post players in our conference, so I knew it would be really good for us. The girls played really well the WHOLE game. We shot a lot of free throws in this game. We figured out that if we took it to the basket, they would foul us on the way in and we were able to convert our free throws.” The Lady Huskies were 19-28 (68%) from the free throw line with Walker having an impressive 9-10. It was a hard-fought battle for both teams, but the Lady Huskies pulled off the win, 51-46. “Worland is a very physical team and it was good for us to play physical back and fight through things we don’t normally play against.” Michaels led with 19 points and nine rebounds but Walker followed close behind with 16 points and eight rebounds. 

The Lady Huskies ended pool play in a three-way tie with Lovell and Worland but didn’t move on because of points allowed. They were able to pick up one final game with Wind River. Burlington started slowly in the first half. “We had so many turnovers and were not making smart decisions on either end of the court,” said Haslam. “Wind River is quick and they ran the floor on us.” They went into halftime down 29-17 but came out strong in the second half and outscored Wind River in both the third and fourth quarters and won, 45-43. “The girls calmed themselves down and pushed through the rest of the game. It was so nice to see this! Jessie and Breanne really stepped up and led the team this game. They helped get into a rhythm and fight through to the end.” Michaels led the team with a double-double: 16 points and 11 rebounds. Walker contributed nine points and Philpott added eight. 

The Lady Huskies have another big week hosting Greybull’s freshmen on Tuesday and Ft. Washakie on Thursday with JV playing at 4 and varsity at 5:30 p.m. The varsity will head to Dubois on Friday with tip off at 4 p.m. and will also travel to Ten Sleep on Saturday with varsity tipping off at 5:30 p.m. 

Lovell        20   16    7     8 — 51

Burlington  11    5   14   13 — 43

BURLINGTON — Walker 2-6 0-0 5, Call 1-1 0-0 2, Philpott 1-2 0-0 2, Michaels 6-15 4-4 16, N. McNiven 3-5 1-3 7, Winterholler 1-2 0-0 2, Bassett 4-7 1-1 9. Totals 18-43 6-8 43. 

3-POINT GOALS — Walker 1. REBOUNDS — Burlington 27 (Michaels, Bassett 7). STEALS — Burlington 8. ASSISTS — Burlington 3. TURNOVERS — Burlington 24. 

Rocky Mountain   8      7  16    6 — 37

Burlington           17   15    9    8 — 49

BURLINGTON — Walker 3-8 2-2 9, Philpott 4-7 1-1 9, Michaels 5-14 0-4 12, N. McNiven 2-6 4-6 8, Winterholler 0-2 3-4 3, Bassett 4-10 0-2 8. Totals 18-47 10-19 49. 

3-POINT GOALS — Michaels 2. REBOUNDS — Burlington 24 (Michaels 6, Bassett 5). STEALS — Burlington 12 (N. McNiven 5). ASSISTS — Burlington 2. TURNOVERS — Burlington 20. 

Worland      11   10   16    9 — 46

Burlington    6    19   16   10 — 51

BURLINGTON — Walker 3-12 9-10 16, Call 1-2 0-0 3, Philpott 2-9 1-2 5, Michaels 5-21 9-14 19, N.McNiven 3-6 0-2 6, Bassett 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 15-53 19-28 51. 

3-POINT GOALS — Walker 1, Call 1. REBOUNDS — Burlington 35 (Michaels 9, Walker 8). STEALS — Burlington 16 (Philpott 5). ASSISTS — Burlington 4. TURNOVERS — Burlington 23. 

Wind River   16   13     6     8 — 43

Burlington      8     9   14    14 — 45 

BURLINGTON — Walker 3-12 2-4 9, Philpott 3-6 2-2 8, Preator 1-1 0-0 2, Michaels 6-19 4-4 16,  Winterholler 2-4 1-2 5, Bassett 0-5 1-4 1, S. McNiven 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 16-59 12-18 45. 

3-POINT GOALS — Walker 1. REBOUNDS — Burlington 34 (Michaels 11). STEALS — Burlington 12 (Michaels 3). ASSISTS — Burlington 4. TURNOVERS — Burlington 28.