Lady Huskies undefeated record earns 1st place ranking

Knocking down Rocky, Lyman, Farson-Eden and Cokeville has shot the Lady Huskies into a number one ranking in the 1A division statewide and kicked off their holiday break with an undefeated two weeks. 

Burlington hosted their district rival Rocky Mountain on Tuesday. “These are always good games for us,” said Coach Cheryl Haslam. “Many times, they come down to the last few seconds of the game, but this year, the girls came out strong and never let up. The girls were running their offense well and playing tight defense.” The Lady Huskies outscored the Lady Grizz 21-8 in the first quarter and held that lead for the rest of the game, winning 64-41. 

“We were able to use our posts quite a bit in this game and also score from the outside,” said Haslam.

Sarah McNiven got 20 points and had 14 rebounds. Naomi McNiven followed close behind with 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and six steals and Adison Haslam, Paxton Philpott and Hailee Winterholler adding eight points each. “This was a good night for our team, especially for it being our first home game.” 

Thursday, the team traveled to Shoshoni for the Wrangler Classic and faced 3A Lyman for the first game. “We knew this would be a good game for us as well. We won 39-30. It was tight other than the second quarter, (when) we outscored them 13-4. That ended up being the difference in the game. Lyman is a quick team, so we knew that we really needed to take care of the ball on offense and make sure we transitioned well on offense and defense.” 

Philpott was the leading scorer with 10 points and four steals and N. McNiven had eight points, six rebounds and five steals and Winterholler had eight points and six rebounds. 

Farson was up next and started out a little rough for the Lady Huskies, who went into halftime with a small lead 19-12. But the second half was another story as the Lady Huskies dominated, outscoring Farson 31-7. “We had a great third quarter, which doesn’t often happen for us. It was good for them to have to fight through the first half, but I’m glad they gathered themselves together for the second half. Scoring continues to be spread out throughout the team and I love seeing this.” 

Philpott led with 14 points and nine rebounds. N. McNiven had 10 points, 11 rebounds and four steals and S. McNiven added 10 points. 

The final game of the tournament was against Cokeville and the Lady Huskies stepped up despite sickness and fatigue and beat the Panthers 58-54. The first half was a back-and-forth battle with just a 2-point spread at halftime 29-27. “The girls came out and had a great third quarter again. They outscored Cokeville 16-5. Which was good because then Cokeville outscored us in the fourth quarter. We struggled with Addison Barnes posting up on us on the inside and transitioning. This is something we will need to work on for our games in the future. That was a huge accomplishment to get this done early on in the season,” said Haslam. 

Philpott led once again with 15 points and five steals. N. McNiven added 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists and S. McNiven 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Lady Huskies will enjoy the long break and be back in the gym on Jan. 9 against Meeteetse at home with a tipoff of 5 p.m. and at home again on Saturday against Dubois at noon. 

Rocky          8  13    9   11 – 41

Burlington  21  14  18  11 – 64

BURLINGTON – Haslam 2-7 2-3 8, Philpott 3-13 1-2 8, S. McNiven 10-17 0-1 20, N. McNiven 6-11 2-4 14, Winterholler 4-8 0-0 8, Bassett 3-4 0-4 6. Totals 28-60 5-14 64. 

3-POINT GOALS – Haslam 2, Philpott 1. REBOUNDS – Burlington 43 (S. McNiven 14, Bassett 11). STEALS – Burlington 16 (N. McNiven 6). ASSISTS – Burlington 15 (N. McNiven 6). TURNOVERS – Burlington 25. 

Lyman        7   4  10   9 – 30

Burlington  8  13   9   9 – 39 

BURLINGTON – Philpott  4-14 1-2 10, S. McNiven 2-8 0-0 4, Stanworth 1-1 0-0 2, N. McNiven 2-9 4-4 8, Winterholler 4-5 0-0 8, Bassett 3-9 0-0 7. Totals 16-51 5-6 39. 

3- POINT GOALS – Philpott 1, Bassett 1. REBOUNDS – Burlington 26 (N. McNiven 6, Winterholler 6). STEALS – Burlington 18 (N. McNiven 5, Haslam 4, Philpott 4). ASSISTS – Burlington 9 (Haslam 4). TURNOVERS – Burlington 22. 

Farson Eden  8   4    1   6 – 19 

Burlington     9  10  17  14 – 50 

BURLINGTON – Haslam 1-7 1-2 3, Philpott 5-14 4-8 14, S. McNiven 3-12 4-5 10, N. McNiven 3-11 4-13 10, Winterholler 4-11 0-2 8, Bassett 2-7 1-4 5. Totals 18-65 14-34 50. 

REBOUNDS – Burlington 56 (N. McNiven 11, Philpott 9, Bassett 9). STEALS – Burlington 10 (N. McNiven 4). ASSISTS – Burlington 5. TURNOVERS – Burlington 9. 

Cokeville    17  10    5  22 – 54 

Burlington  16  13  16  13 – 58 

BURLINGTON – Haslam 2-5 0-0 6, Philpott 6-15 2-2 15, S. McNiven 5-11 0-2 10, N. McNiven 5-12 2-6 12, Winterholler 3-6 2-6 8, Bassett 2-6 1-2 7. Totals 23-55 7-18 58. 

3-POINT GOALS – Haslam 2, Philpott 1, Bassett 2. REBOUNDS – Burlington 39 (S. McNiven 9, N. McNiven 9). STEALS – Burlington 8 (Philpott 5). ASSISTS – Burlington 9 (N. McNiven 4). TURNOVERS – Burlington 20.