Lady Huskies play in championship game at Big Horn Classic Tournament

The Burlington Lady Huskies played a lot of basketball over the weekend at the Big Horn Classic Tournament in Worland. 

First up for the Lady Huskies was Rocky. “The girls were ready for this game because we didn’t get the outcome we wanted the last time we played them,” said Coach Cheryl Haslam. “Coming into the game, we knew that we needed to focus on shutting down their posts, that’s what really hurt us the last time we played them. They did a great job with this, holding their best post player to two points.” 

Burlington had really strong first and third quarters that added to their overall win with a final score of 50-45. The Lady Huskies knew they would also need to be smart on offense to deal with Rocky’s 1-2-2 zone. “They pressure the ball really well. We were able to run a few different offenses and Rocky ended up switching their defense to man because we were doing so well against their zone. The girls did a great job talking on defense and working together to get through the screens that hurt us when we played them before.” 

Hailee Winterholler led with 14 points and six rebounds. Naomi McNiven had seven rebounds and eight points, Paxton Philpott had eight points and five assists, Breanne Walker had six points and seven steals and Dalley Bassett had seven rebounds and three points. 

Friday night, the Lady Huskies played Worland in a very physical, tight game. “The girls did a great job of physically and mentally pushing through this one. It was a very physical game and many of them were beyond frustrated at one time or another,” said Haslam. “They were able to bring it all together and keep going. Paxton had a good scoring game and Breanne, Naomi, Hailee and Dalley all worked hard on the inside and Breanne had a really good, well-rounded game.” 

The Lady Huskies won 33-32. Philpott led the team with 19 points, Walker had 10 rebounds, six steals, three assists and six points, N. McNiven had nine rebounds and five points and Bassett had nine rebounds and two points. 

Winning both games in their pool play matched Burlington against Lovell, the No. 1 team from the other pool. “We knew this would be a good, tough game for us. Unfortunately, we really struggled with our offensive game in the second half.”  Lovell eventually  prevailed, 54-31.  

The game was close through most of the first half but a strong surge from Lovell in the third quarter seemed to shut the Lady Huskies down. “They outscored us 21-8. The girls started playing scramble ball and not running what we needed to on offense. The fourth quarter was better but we couldn’t recover from the damage done. We just needed to slow down and focus on playing our game rather than playing out of control,” said Haslam. 

Philpott led the team with 11 points and six steals, Walker had eight points and Winterholler had 10 rebounds and four points. 

The Lady Huskies will be at home all week, playing Lovell JV Friday night at 5 and St. Stephens on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. 

Rocky Mountain  10  11  10  14 – 45

Burlington           15   5   18  11 – 50

BURLINGTON – Walker 1-8 3-4 6, McNulty 2-5 0-0 5, Philpott 4-11 0-2 8, Haslam 3-5 0-0 6, N. McNiven 4-9 0-0 8, Winterholler 7-10 0-0 14, Bassett 1-5 1-4 3. Totals 22-56 4-10 50. 

3-POINT GOALS – Walker 1, McNulty 1. REBOUNDS – Burlington 31 (N. McNiven, Bassett 7, Winterholler 6). STEALS – Burlington 17 (Walker 7). ASSISTS – Burlington 14 (Philpott 5). TURNOVERS – Burlington 24. 

Worland     7  11  6   8 – 32

Burlington  9   6   7  11 – 33

BURLINGTON – Walker 1-6 4-5 6, Philpott 7-21 5-6 19, N. McNiven 2-15 1-4 5, Winterholler 0-4 1-2 1, Bassett 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 11-57 11-19 33. 

REBOUNDS – Burlington 38 (Walker 10, N. McNiven, Bassett 9). STEALS – Burlington 13 (Walker 6). ASSISTS – Burlington 6 (Walker 3). TURNOVERS – Burlington 23. 

Lovell         7  15  21 11 – 54

Burlington  7    7   8    9 – 31 

BURLINGTON – Walker 3-13 0-0 8, S. McNiven 0-1 1-2 1, Philpott 4-21 2-6 11, N. McNiven 0-4 3-4 3, Winterholler 1-7 2-2 4, Bassett 1-5 2-2 4. Totals 9-53 10-16 31. 

3-POINT GOALS – Walker 2, Philpott 1. REBOUNDS – Burlington 25 (Winterholler 10). STEALS – Burlington 15 (Philpott 6). ASSISTS – Burlington 4. TURNOVERS – Burlington 21.