Lady Herd keeps on truckin’ despite two more losses, single-weekend win

One sure thing about the Lady Herders – they never give up – even after losing against the Southeast Cyclones at home  on Friday 37-21, and again on Feb. 6 against the Shoshoni Wranglers, 55-32.

The third time is the charm though – the Herd battled back and won their third game of the weekend, this time against Wind River, 42-36.

Coach Peter Fenster said the girls’ loss may have been a little bit his fault,.

“We struggled offensively. We should’ve came out in a 2-3 (zone defense) earlier. We limited them to 4 points in the second half. We just couldn’t score, we couldn’t get the ball in that basket,” Fenster said of the game against the Southeast team.

According to Fenster, all of the girls played hard and well. giving the game everything they had.

“We had one girl get hurt during the game so we (relied on) our bench even more. They stepped up, they were a little tired but they battled to the end,” he said.

Alyssa Collier went out with an injury late in the first quarter, later determined to be a foot sprain. It may be that the high school senior is out for the rest of the season, unfortunately, but Fenster wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know. Time will tell,” he said.

Skylar Harford, a GHS junior, said the Southeast team is a lot bigger than the Herder team.

“We pressured Southeast really well, that’s one of the best things we do, we’re a really good defensive team. They couldn’t really make shots. We had girls off the bench who knew they had to come in. Those girls definitely did a really good job, they stepped up and we needed that. Then the second quarter we jumped into a zone (defense), which really helped us, the other team only scored 4 points in the second half. I don’t think it was one of our best games we’ve played,” Harford said.

Teammate Adelaide Williams said Southeast plays good man-to-man defense.

“We practiced making sure when you drive you hit the roller and our backside is crashing middle. And we struggled with that the first half, the second half was much better,” Williams said.

“Once we got rolling in the second half with a 2-3 (zone defense) and shutting them down, and then us finally being able to hit the roller and get some shots up, it started going better. But by the time we were down 15 in the first half it was too much to be able to come back. Effort was good. Normally, we’re much more aggressive than we were this game, which is a little frustrating to see because that’s what we’re good at. We’re good at good aggressiveness and defense. We know that we struggle with a 2-3 (zone defense) so it was good to see that we were actually able to come out and play a 2-3 (zone defense) well,” she said.

Up next: The Herders head to Niobrara County for conference play against the Lusk Tigers Feb. 12.

There are no more home games for the Herders. Feb. 13 the girls will play Pine Bluffs, and Feb. 19 they’ll go up against Lingle-Ft. Laramie.