By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
Anything can happen this weekend as the Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow Miners face off against the boys basketball teams at Farson-Eden on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Cokeville at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
While HEM coach Clif Jones believes his team is fully capable of winning both games, he worries about being on the road after the toughest two weekends of their season against Encampment, Guernsey-Sunrise, Saratoga and Little Snake River Valley. “How does it get easier?” asked Jones. “We load up and go on a big conference weekend.”
Jones also worries about his team playing only to the level of their competition and not beyond. He hopes it will not go to their heads that they are playing two teams the Miners can beat on paper, and have beaten before.
“Farson gets a great crowd. We beat them by 30 points on a neutral court and beat them by 30 at home, and they beat us at Farson,” Jones said.
The Miners plan to boost their defensive game and try to find other offensive options beyond Justin Palm and Matt Larson. “Baggs did a good job of packing it in and daring us to beat them from the outside (last weekend),” Jones said.
His team struggles with perimeter shooting, and will need to do a good job of finding the open man. In the game against Little Snake River Valley, HEM did manage to find another shooter in Charlie George. Raking in 15 points in that game, it was the first time anyone on the team had scored more than Palm and Larson, Jones said.
As for Cokeville, Jones hopes Encampment runs them to death before the Miners see them on Saturday. “Cokeville is one of the hardest places to play,” Jones said. “The kids there expect to win. It’s the most intimidating gym you’ll ever walk into, with over 50 state championships over the last 40 years. They have a whole wall. Even though you may on paper be a much stronger team, it’s still a difficult contest.”
HEM hopes to boost their transition game against Cokeville and locate the kids who want to score. This year has not provided them with the luxury of fast breaks and a high shooting percentage.
It is a make or break weekend for the Miners. Their goal at the beginning of the season was not to make the pigtail game at the end, forcing them to muscle their way into the regional tournament. If they come out of this weekend with two wins, they avoid the game. If they lose both, they are almost guaranteed to play the pigtail game. “If we split, it will come down to the last weekend. We would like to get it done this weekend,” Jones said.
Despite his worry, Jones is still hopeful about the weekend. “We’re a team of streaks. We lost three, we won seven. Now we’ve lost four and it’s time to turn it around again,” he said.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Pigtails not the fashion at HEM
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
Going into this weekend 3-1 in conference games, the Lady Miners hope to meet their season-long goal of staying out of the pigtail game, a game that forces them to play their way into the regional tournament.
Going up against Farson-Eden and Cokeville will be no easy task, though. Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow won by a mere nine points the last time they saw Farson, and Cokeville came out 23 points ahead.
HEM coach Jackie Jones said the team’s tactic in the Farson game at 4 p.m. on Friday is to hone in on the McAllister sisters, both of whom are guards. “Lillian is the team leader,” she said. “(The sisters) really are the strength of the team.” She said the Miners were able to hold Lillian to just a few points after allowing her to lay 20 onto the scoreboard early in the season.
This time around, the HEM ladies have Crystal Hohn back in the post position. The team will see what it can do from the inside with the Hohn and Sarah McAttee duo, Jones said. Their outside shooting has been effective, “but if we can put more points up from the paint, we’re going to be that much more effective and better off come regionals,” she said.
Against Cokeville, HEM aims to play a good transition defense. Though they have not been the only victim of Cokeville’s speed, the Miners were beat in the running game last time they met. It is currently the HEM ladies’ only conference loss.
“If we come back with one win, we should be able to keep out of the pigtail game,” Jones said. She holds out a faint hope that Farson might hit Encampment, third place in the conference, with a loss while HEM picks up a win against Farson. “That would put us a game ahead of Encampment.”
With a snow day and with several girls out at various times due to the flue and high fevers, Jones hoped she would have the whole team back for Thursday’s practice. “We’ll just have to see what happens,” she said.
Times staff writer
Going into this weekend 3-1 in conference games, the Lady Miners hope to meet their season-long goal of staying out of the pigtail game, a game that forces them to play their way into the regional tournament.
Going up against Farson-Eden and Cokeville will be no easy task, though. Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow won by a mere nine points the last time they saw Farson, and Cokeville came out 23 points ahead.
HEM coach Jackie Jones said the team’s tactic in the Farson game at 4 p.m. on Friday is to hone in on the McAllister sisters, both of whom are guards. “Lillian is the team leader,” she said. “(The sisters) really are the strength of the team.” She said the Miners were able to hold Lillian to just a few points after allowing her to lay 20 onto the scoreboard early in the season.
This time around, the HEM ladies have Crystal Hohn back in the post position. The team will see what it can do from the inside with the Hohn and Sarah McAttee duo, Jones said. Their outside shooting has been effective, “but if we can put more points up from the paint, we’re going to be that much more effective and better off come regionals,” she said.
Against Cokeville, HEM aims to play a good transition defense. Though they have not been the only victim of Cokeville’s speed, the Miners were beat in the running game last time they met. It is currently the HEM ladies’ only conference loss.
“If we come back with one win, we should be able to keep out of the pigtail game,” Jones said. She holds out a faint hope that Farson might hit Encampment, third place in the conference, with a loss while HEM picks up a win against Farson. “That would put us a game ahead of Encampment.”
With a snow day and with several girls out at various times due to the flue and high fevers, Jones hoped she would have the whole team back for Thursday’s practice. “We’ll just have to see what happens,” she said.
It's official, town saves aging gym
Damn! The streak broke! It's okay, I get it back tomorrow...
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
The Elk Mountain community managed to save their school’s gymnasium.
When the School Facilities Commission recommended funding for a new elementary school in the town, the initial plan was to level the old building and erect a new on it its place.
That plan would have destroyed the school’s gym, the largest single-room structure in town. It has watched over the community for a half century.
“It’s a neat old gym,” said Carbon County School District 2 Superintendent Bob Gates. “It’s the heart and soul of the community.”
Not a huge gym, it still outsizes the small church in Elk Mountain, said Elk Mountain Elementary principal Dale Kari. With a small seating area and a tile floor, it has an aged look. However, it is well-built. The small stage area allows it to serve as a multipurpose room for both the school and the community. Children at the school frequent it for physical education, indoor recess and to eat lunch.
Community members gathered when they heard the long-standing gym was to disappear from town. “(The SFC) said there was too much space at the school and (the School Board) needed to do something different,” said Town Clerk Judy Christopherson. “The town all went in and fought a battle and that’s where it came up that (the SFC) would give us a window to come up with a different plan.”
The window allowed the town two years to come up with a solution, Gates said. They are now at the tail end of that window and are almost ready to go. The solution is to replace most of the building but leave the gym standing. Kari said that the final school design review will be done in early March.
Until the fire department got its own fire hall, it held its annual chili cookoff and caroling party in the gym, Christopherson said. It also housed weddings and funerals, school programs, Boy Scouts award ceremonies, and, of course, basketball games.
Jim Jones, 75, graduated from the older brick part of the Elk Mountain school in a class of two. He was there before the gym was built, but he watched his children and grandchildren perform in school plays there. “There’s a lot of things I remember. I’ve seen a lot of things go by there,” he said.
The new school should be 12,000 square feet, reducing the current space by 5,000 square feet. It is meant to hold 18 to 21 students, Gates said. Officials hope that construction will begin in early summer this year and finish in time for the students’ arrival in August.
The SFC recommended a pre-engineered building for the new elementary school. Williams Scotsman, Inc., a company headquartered in Baltimore, Md., should fabricate the six pieces prior to shipping them to Elk Mountain, said Gates.
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
The Elk Mountain community managed to save their school’s gymnasium.
When the School Facilities Commission recommended funding for a new elementary school in the town, the initial plan was to level the old building and erect a new on it its place.
That plan would have destroyed the school’s gym, the largest single-room structure in town. It has watched over the community for a half century.
“It’s a neat old gym,” said Carbon County School District 2 Superintendent Bob Gates. “It’s the heart and soul of the community.”
Not a huge gym, it still outsizes the small church in Elk Mountain, said Elk Mountain Elementary principal Dale Kari. With a small seating area and a tile floor, it has an aged look. However, it is well-built. The small stage area allows it to serve as a multipurpose room for both the school and the community. Children at the school frequent it for physical education, indoor recess and to eat lunch.
Community members gathered when they heard the long-standing gym was to disappear from town. “(The SFC) said there was too much space at the school and (the School Board) needed to do something different,” said Town Clerk Judy Christopherson. “The town all went in and fought a battle and that’s where it came up that (the SFC) would give us a window to come up with a different plan.”
The window allowed the town two years to come up with a solution, Gates said. They are now at the tail end of that window and are almost ready to go. The solution is to replace most of the building but leave the gym standing. Kari said that the final school design review will be done in early March.
Until the fire department got its own fire hall, it held its annual chili cookoff and caroling party in the gym, Christopherson said. It also housed weddings and funerals, school programs, Boy Scouts award ceremonies, and, of course, basketball games.
Jim Jones, 75, graduated from the older brick part of the Elk Mountain school in a class of two. He was there before the gym was built, but he watched his children and grandchildren perform in school plays there. “There’s a lot of things I remember. I’ve seen a lot of things go by there,” he said.
The new school should be 12,000 square feet, reducing the current space by 5,000 square feet. It is meant to hold 18 to 21 students, Gates said. Officials hope that construction will begin in early summer this year and finish in time for the students’ arrival in August.
The SFC recommended a pre-engineered building for the new elementary school. Williams Scotsman, Inc., a company headquartered in Baltimore, Md., should fabricate the six pieces prior to shipping them to Elk Mountain, said Gates.
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