Tigers look to zip up Baggs

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

On paper, Friday’s 5:30 p.m. game between the Encampment High School girls and Little Snake River Valley School in Baggs is even.

The Lady Tigers average 34 points, 29 rebounds and a shooting accuracy of 32 percent. The Rattlers bucket 27 points on average, grab 27 boards and have a 31-percent shooting average.

“(Encampment) played Farson at home and won by one point in overtime,” Rattlers coach Jodi Stanley said. “We played Farson at Farson and won by one point.” She hopes those games will be an accurate measuring stick of what should come out of this weekend.

Speaking of measurements, Encampment played North Park, Colo., again on Tuesday night. The Tigers came home with a 59-33 loss, but according to Krein, Encampment has improved.
“(Encampment) played better than the first time,” head coach Jami Krein said. “(My girls) scored more and held them to fewer points.”

Speaking about the upcoming game against LSRV, Krein hopes to see her defense continue to step up, though she expects good outside shooting.

Offensively, the posts should get involved early in the game to try to open some options for Encampment. Krein hopes that what worked before will work again.

Stanley expects good things out of her five players. Isabel Quinteros is the Rattlers’ leading scorer and Stanley hopes she shines in Friday’s game. Cora Foster’s height should enable her to pull down some rebounds to keep the Tigers away from the offensive boards.

The nice thing about only having five players, Stanley said, is that they’re all MVPs. “I need every one of them now,” she said.

Stanley is excited about the message coming from the statistics. With the numbers the way they are, she is positive her team can compete.

Encampment’s Saturday game against Rock River has been canceled due to too few players on the Rock River squad. The Rattlers play Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Baggs.