Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Bobcats, Lady Bobcats each go 1-2 in respective tournaments
Ten Sleep's Kinley Erickson (15) drives past an Arvada defender during Ten Sleep's 45-40 win on Friday at a tournament in Upton.
When it comes to preseason tournaments, coaches can never be too sure of what to expect from their team.
For Ten Sleep boys basketball coach Ben Schwarz, the performance he got from his team in Upton was one he was happy with. The Pioneers went 2-1 over the weekend, dropping their first game but winning the next two to capture fifth place.
Ten Sleep started off the tournament with a 56-32 loss to the host, Upton, but bounced back nicely with a 63-36 win over Guernsey on Friday before downing 2A Sundance in the fifth-place game 58-46.
Schwarz noticed how his team struggled in the first game against Upton, saying he felt his seniors tried to do too much and the team struggled as a result. But they corrected some mistakes and were able to end the tournament n a high note as some of the post players came alive for the Pioneers.
"By the second game we really took rebounding to heart and controlled the paint on missed shots. Our bigs began to assert themselves on the boards and with points," Schwarz said.
For most of the Lady Pioneers, the tournament in Upton served as the first varsity basketball experience they had. And the amount of inexperience caused them to struggle at times over the weekend.
Ten Sleep opened with a 45-40 win over Arvada-Clearmont on Friday and was in the winner's bracket on Saturday, but fell to Upton 66-25 and again to Kaycee 55-22.
Thermopolis teams have tough time in Wright, Glenrock
The Thermopolis basketball teams kicked off the 2015-16 season with the boys going to Wright and the girls to Glenrock for each school's respective tournaments.
And both came out of the weekend with matching 1-2 records.
The Bobcats started off the tournament in Wright with a matchup against Big Horn and were overpowered by the Rams, falling 75-50.
Next came Wright and Thermopolis was up to the task, taking down the Panthers handily 58-41. The last opponent it faced was Tongue River. It was a game in which both offenses struggled to score, with the Rattlers prevailing over the Bobcats 37-34.
In Glenrock, the Lady Bobcats had to endure two losses before finding victory.
They fell to Tongue River 31-27 and Big Horn 50-34 before narrowing Wright 43-40 to close out the tournament Friday.
