ROCK SPRINGS – The Rock Springs girls basketball team used a second-half surge to defeat the Lyman Eagles in their first game of the Flaming Gorge Classic on Thursday, 55-49.
Throughout the first half, the teams took turns scoring with the biggest lead just being a four-point margin for Rock Springs.
The Tigers took their first lead of the game with about 4:30 left in the first quarter when sophomore guard Kamrynn James grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up to give her team a 6-4 lead.
“She did really well tonight,” said Ramiro Candelaria, head coach of the Tigers. “Oh my goodness. She had some serious, serious energy for us as well.”
The Tigers finished the first quarter with a 14-13 advantage.
With about three minutes to go, Rock Springs built its biggest lead, 24-20. Sophomore guard Brenli Jenkins hit a midrange jumper to make it 21-20, and on the next possession, she found senior guard Aislyn Pecolar in the corner for a wide-open 3-pointer.
However, the Eagles went on a 6-0 run in the final two minutes, which included a layup by senior Mandy Eyre as time expired, to give Lyman a 26-24 lead going into halftime.
The Tigers came out with a lot of energy in the second half, propelling them to a 13-2 run to give them a nine-point advantage with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
“I think the girls sticking on the bad plays too long (in the first half). They weren’t thinking about the next play. They were kind of throwing a little pity party after every bad play happened,” Candelaria said.
“Once we talked to them at halftime, we addressed that and they came out with a different energy. They wanted to play for each other, they started to have a little fun and it showed on the court.”
Lyman wouldn’t go away quietly, though. The Eagles cut the Tigers’ lead to one with about 6:30 left in the game.
At that point, Jenkins took over by scoring nine of the Tigers next 10 points over a three-minute span.
With 6:14 to go, Jenkins hit a midrange to give Rock Springs a 42-39 lead. Then seconds later, she drove into the paint for a layup and was fouled on the play. She missed the free throw but managed to push the Tigers’ lead back up to five points, 44-39.
A minute later, Jenkins found the basket again, converting another midrange jumper.
With about 3:27 to go, Jenkins grabbed an offensive rebound and then stepped outside behind the arch and drilled a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 50-41 lead.
Jenkins led the Tigers in scoring with 19 points, and after the game Candelaria called his sophomore point guard a stud.
“She’s such a good athlete and her basketball IQ is through the roof for being a sophomore,” he said. “Her motor just keeps going. She did really well and that’s what I expect her to do every game.”
Despite the victory, Candelaria saw some things the Tigers still need to work on.
“If we get zoned up – like teams are starting to zone us now because we kind of struggle with it – I’d like to work on that a little bit more with more ball movement,” he said.
“Other than that, I think our press needs a little bit of work. We play some good teams so it’s hard to gauge what you’re going to get the next day.”
The Tigers faced Bear Lake, Idaho, on Friday at 4:20 p.m., and then Pinedale on Saturday at 4:20 p.m.
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