Bobcats suffer first loss of the season

The Hot Springs County High School boys basketball team traveled to Pinedale last weekend for the Winter Classic Tournament. The Cats came into the weekend undefeated at 5 and 0.

Friday’s contest saw the Cats pitted against the team from Mountain View, and resulted in a win, by a score of 56 to 48.

Coach Shane Corpening said, “We initially played very well against Mountain View, but, we began to let them back into the competition as the game progressed.”

From there, things took a turn. In two games on Saturday, (against Lyman, and later, against Pinedale), the Bobcats did not fare as well. The Cats lost a very close game to Lyman by a score of 34 to 31 and then lost to Pinedale by a score of 61 to 43.

“We were up against two very good teams, and we just couldn’t get the ball to fall in the net. We didn’t defend well, and we shot just 7% from outside the arc, and only 33% from the free throw line. You can’t win games against good teams that way,” said coach Corpening.

He added, “The game against Lyman was a heartbreaker, it caused us to press a little, and it seemed to impact the team’s confidence going into the Pinedale game. Pinedale has some really good shooters, and we just weren’t playing good team ball.”

McMillan of Pinedale dropped 23 of Pinedale’s 61 points. To borrow a phrase from baseball, sometimes, you just run into a buzzsaw.

It is said that losing is a part of winning – without losing, how could anyone ever fully appreciate how great it feels to win. So, now that the Bobcats have that experience out of the way, no doubt they are ready to get back to winning.

This week, the Cats are at home for the Big Horn Basin Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The varsity team will play at the high school, and the JV team will play at the middle school.

Bobcats Jayda Griffin,