Things haven’t gotten any easier for the Lady Broncs with the beginning of conference play. Facing tough opponents in the early going—the likes of Laramie, Cheyenne South, et al—the Jackson 5 have been looking forward to meeting schools at their level. Be careful what you wish for.
Conference play began with archrival Star Valley—a team the girls haven’t beaten in the last 21 tries dating back to 2009. Star Valley made it 22 straight behind a monster game from power forward McKenna Brog, who notched 20 in a 50-35 win over the Broncs. Gracie Hardeman (10 pts), Audrey Fouras (9 pts), and Karsen Breeding (8 pts) led Jackson in the losing effort. To make matters worse, coach Jason Huggins lost another player to injury. Jacie Chatham went down in the 2nd half.
An ankle sprain will keep her out of the lineup for 1-2 weeks. Despite getting Gracie Hardeman, Brooklyn Hills, and Morgan Duckett back into the lineup, the Lady Broncs were without Joanna Smits, Hannah Freeze, and Hyla Chatham over the weekend. And the quick turnaround wasn’t easy for Jackson, either. After the Friday night game, it was on the bus early in the morning for the 3 1/2-hour trip to Green River where the Wolves were waiting.
Green River might be the conference’s best basketball team. The Lady Wolves returned a strong lineup from last season. At any given time, coach Rick Carrol can put on the floor any of 8 talented players including Kayde Strauss, Tayana Crowder, Megan Counts, Kelsi Angelovich, Gabrielle Heiser, Daryn Macy, and Sarah Wilson. Green River easily surged past the visiting Lady Braves Saturday afternoon, 65-26.
Brooklyn Hills did an admirable job filling in for J. Chatham at point guard. The junior, along with her teammates, faced a relentless full-court press all game long. For the fourth straight game, the Lady Broncs failed to contain an opponent’s one big go-to player: Kinley Brown (Teton), Roxanne Rogers (Pinedale), McKenna Brog (Star Valley), and now Green River’s Kayde Strauss who finished the game with 23 points.
Karsen Breeding led the way for the Lady Broncs with 10 points. Caroline Fouras added 6 off the bench. The two losses drop the Lady Broncs to 1-9, 0-2 on the season. They travel to Evanston next for a game with the Red Devils on Saturday, January 30th. Live action of that game can be heard on KZ95.
