Object Lesson

Basketball Showdown in the Southeast: Kimberley and Hannah

Top teams that dominate all season get tossed out like a garbage bag, bottom weaker teams get lucky and go to the state tournament, and it’s everyone’s game no matter what its 2A regional basketball time. From the North East conference the four teams that went into the regional competition on the girls side includes Tongue River, Big Horn, Wright, and Sundance, for the boys it was Moorcroft, Tongue River, Wright, and Sundance. The Lusk Tigers hosted this year’s East Regional Tournament in Torrington, Wyoming.

The Tongue River boy’s report on how they played this weekend is not as pleasing as how the Tongue River girl’s. The boy’s first game to be played was late Thursday the 26th, 2009 while the girls played early that morning. The boy’s had a tough game loosing by 2 while the girls won in a blow out game. The eagles played Pine Bluff while the girls played the fourth ranked team from the south Lusk. Winning by this much advanced the lady eagles into the semi final game against Wright lady panthers. Unfortunately for the boys this devastating loss sent the boys into the loser’s bracket, and the next day they had a tough game to play against the number one seed from the south the Lusk Tigers.

Friday’s competition for the Tongue River boy’s players was a gut wrenching game that ended up being their last. The eagles were defeated by the well-coached team of Lusk putting them in the third and fourth place game, while Tongue River boys were knocked out of the competitions keeping them from competing in the State. On the other hand the Lady Eagles went on to defeat the Wright lady panthers by 20 points or more sending them into the championship game. That same day Tongue River’s rivals Big Horn defeated Burns to make it into the championship with them for the third year in a row. This time these two teams met the lady rams defeated the lady eagles by 22 points.

When talking to one of the Tongue River lady eagles players she told us about the part of the weekend that other teams did not know about. Torrington, Wyoming is near the eastern border of Nebraska so to kill some down time they traveled to the nearby town of Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska. There they ate at an Applebee’s and ventured in the mall that’s located in this town. Even though the Tongue River boy’s did not make it to state they enjoyed all the fun that the girls had in this town as well.

The lady eagles compete in the State Tournament in Casper, Wyoming the weekend of March 5-7. Their first game is against Wyoming Indian.