JACKSON, Wyo. — It was the tale of two halves Saturday in Evanston as the Lady Broncs dominated the first two quarters to take a commanding 21-10 lead into the locker room at halftime, only to watch the Evanston Red Devils come roaring back for the 41-38 win Saturday afternoon in Evanston.
Jackson’s Bella Gwilliam stole the show the last time these two teams met, propelling the Lady Broncs to a 47-45 home win on February 1. It was head coach Jason Huggins’ plan to again pound the ball inside to the 5’11” senior as well as fellow forward freshman Gracie Hardeman. Gwilliam again started hot, pouring in 6 points in the first half, and Jackson did a marvelous job of shutting down Evanston’s two big scorers—Zocia Nowakowski and Amber Lowe.
But it was as if the teams switched jerseys for the second half. Suddenly it was Evanston dominating the play. Novakowski exploded for 9 of her 13 total points in the 3rd quarter, and Lowe scored all 7 of her points in the second half to lead the Red Devils to a comeback win on senior night for the home team.
The heartbreaking loss drops the Lady Broncs to 2-18 to end the regular season. Jackson will find themselves right back in Evanston to begin state tournament play on Thursday.
Boys bounced by Devils
The Jackson Broncs could not manage that elusive first win as they fell to 0-20 for the season with a 64-32 loss to Evanston.
The Broncs watched a 10-9 lead after the 1st quarter fizzle quickly as the Devils’ big guns got on track after a slow start to begin taking control of the game.
Jackson had no answer for Evanston’s size. The 6’6” Mason Ellingford finished with 11 points—all down low in the paint. The 6’4” junior Braxton Lind finished with 9 points. But it was Devil superstar Dawson Crofts and his 23 points that paced Evanston to the easy victory, the 9th win in their last 11 games.
Jackson’s offense again became too predictable. Penetration was nearly impossible given the hulking size of Ellingford and Lind, who simply swatted away any dribble-drive attempts by Evan Brunner and Sam Lopeman—the latter was whistled for a technical when he bounced a ball into the gymnasium rafters after his layup attempt was rejected by Ellingford. When the outside shooting went cold, Jackson coach Sam Lunz knew he was in for a long afternoon.
Evan Brunner (16 points) and Silas Wotkyns (12 points) led the way for the Broncs. Riggs Turner added 4 and that was it for the scoresheet on Jackson’s side.
