Making it to Saturday is the difference between just appearing and competing at the state tournament. The Wind River Lady Cougars pulled that with a 54-48 win over Burns late Friday morning at the Ford Wyoming Center.
The game wasn’t pretty, Friday morning consolation games rarely are, but despite poor shooting from the floor, and the free throw line, and with 19 turnovers the Lady Cougars found a way to win.
That path came from a balanced offense featuring Amanda Jenkins and Natalie Walker from the outside and Allison Tidzump and Delaney Gambler inside.
Wind River hit just 16 of 56 shots from the floor, and of those, three of 13 were 3-point attempts.
As a team, they shot just 28 percent, an identical statistic with the Lady Broncs.
It wasn’t much better with 19 of 40 free throw attempts converted.
The difference in the game came in the final period after a 33-33 deadlock through the first three periods of the game.
A 7-1 run gave Wind River a little breathing room to start the fourth quarter. Amanda Jenkins hit Allison Tidzump on the opposite side of the low block for the initial basket, followed by a pair of Tidzump free throws and a wrap-around post move by Jenkins.
Burns called a timeout with 5:57 remaining in the game.
Wind River continued to pull away on a Madi Arneach follow shot and a strong post move by freshman Delaney Gambler.
The Lady Cougars’ biggest lead of the game came at 49-37 after a Karina Frederick steal with an assist to Jenkins.
Just as quickly as they took the lead, they saw Burns come back into contention with a 6-1 run.
On three consecutive possessions, Burns guard Jordan Griess drove the ball right at the point of the Wind River defense, then she made a side step and layups off a Euro step to keep the game close.
Arneach, Walker and Frederick all missed their first free throws in the final minute but hit the second shot.
Solid defense didn’t allow a good look at the basket by Burns and Wind River advanced to a 9:00 am consolation championship game against Kemmerer at the Ford Events Center.
Tidzump paced Wind River with 13 points. Walker and Jenkins each added a dozen and Gambler scored nine.
BURNS 15 7 11 15 – 48
WIND RIVER 6 10 17 21- 54
Wind River – Karina Frederick 2-8 2, Natalie Walker 1 (2) 4-9 12, Amanda Jenkins 3 (1) 3-5 12, Jonae Spoonhunter 1-2 1, Madiysn Arneach 2 1-2 5, Allison Tidzump 3 7-12 13, Delaney Gambler 4 1-2 9. Totals 13 (3) 19-40 54
Burns – Jordan Griess 5 (1) 2-4 15, Brynn Bach (1) 0-0 9, Saria Eklund 1 0-0 2, Brooklyn Kopetzky 3 6-7 12, Savannah Kirkbride 1 3-5 5, Saide Barrett 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 (2) 16-16 48