(Big Horn Basin, WY) – It was a tail of two stories for the Lady Tigers and Tiger boys last weekend when they played 3A Northwest opponents in the Big Horn Basin against Lovell and Powell. The Lady Tigers’ short-handed team showed against the two opponents with the injury bug starting the show for the Lander girls. The boys saw challenging games with them splitting the weekend against their opponents.
Friday’s game for the girls was a tough start for the Lady tigers. Having a 19-point first-half putting while the Lady Panthers ran the score in the first half putting up 33 of their own points. The second half saw similar numbers. Powell Outscored Lander 23-15 in the second half the end results being 56-34. Dairan Bell leads the scoring for the Lady Tigers with 9 points. Adelyn Anderson was a point behind with 8.
If there is going to be a new rivalry in basketball look no further than the Tigers and the Panthers. The last couple of seasons has been nothing but competitive basketball. As good of a game as the Tigers could’ve played. They knew it was going to be a battle until the very end. No lead was bigger than nine throughout the entire game. Lander had the biggest lead of the game at nine. However, both the Tigers and Panthers would go on small quick runs to have their leads not last long. In the fourth quarter, it would come down to the final five seconds. Brenon Stauffernberg converted two free throws for Powell to tie or win the game with a three. Brock Johnson for the Panthers brought the ball over mid-court and in desperation mode, nailed the game-winning three making the game a heartbreaker for the Tigers in a 53-52 defeat. Stuaffenberg scored 23 in the game. 11 of the 23 points came in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Tigers have only nine players suited up for their game against the Bulldogs showing their fight and spirit against the Lady Bulldogs. The two teams played twice before Saturday’s contest with Lander and Lovell each winning one game. Lander in the first half saw a lead one 25-24 with a big performance from Anderson who scored eight points in the first half. For Lander though, a late surge by the Lady Bulldogs spoiled Lander’s chance of winning 52-40. Anderson led the way with nine points followed by Kiara Friday with eight.
If the boy’s game on Friday had any indication of how Saturday would go. Then you were in for a good one. Lander controlled the game from the start scoring 18 in the first quarter and 13 in the second to have a 31-21 lead going into the half. Scoring droughts have been an occurrence for the Tigers a couple of times during the season and it showed in the fourth quarter. After a 45-32 advantage entering the fourth, the Tigers scored just five points in the fourth. Lovell saw a 10-point fourth-quarter outing from Carter Lundberg and a buzzer-beater three to send the game into overtime. The Tiger’s defense held up in the fourth quarter shutting out Lovell on the overtime intermission. Brae’don Lincoln and Bennet Washburn each made one from the charity stripe to help the Tigers prevail 52-50. Abe Lopes and Caleb Bartoni both scored 12 in the win against Lovell.
The Lady Tigers are now 4-12 on the season while the Tigers are 10-6. With five games left in the regular season, Lander plays four out of the five at home and it starts this weekend. They will play Friday against Mountain View beginning at 5:30 p.m. for the Lady Tigers and 7 p.m. for the boys. Saturday sees Lander up against Pinedale at 2 p.m. for the girls and 3:30 for the boys. County 10 will have coverage of Lander Valley basketball this weekend on KOVE 1330 A.M. 107.7 F.M. and streaming video on YouTube and Facebook.
You can catch last week’s action below!
Lander vs Powell
Lander vs Lovell