CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – The Lady Broncs sent shockwaves throughout the state last March when they made a run to the title as one of the bottom seeds in the tournament. The team had a losing record and seemingly little momentum coming out of regionals, but played their best ball when it mattered most for the first championship in school history.
However things will look a little different this year on the sidelines. Barry Ward retired from coaching and now Britt Bath takes over; Bath said he’s been impressed seeing how much drive the kids on the team have.
”It’s been fun. Because there’s some kids here that are really good kids. I’ve really enjoyed being around them. They have shown me just how hard they’re willing to work to get to the success that they’ve already had, and how hard they’re willing to work to continue it. I mean when you look at what they’ve done in basketball last year and volleyball the last two years, there’s some girls here that have put in a lot of time to be successful. So it’s really cool from my aspect to be able to be a part of that, and see that, and let them show the younger kids what it’s like,” Bath said.
What’s scary for the rest of 2A is the fact that Burns is returning the vast majority of last year’s squad on the court. The only starter gone is Daljit Kaur who was their leading scorer (12.6 PPG) and rebounder (7.6 RPG), but the other four starters returning will help alleviate that. Conference Player of the Year Jordan Griess was second in scoring (9.3 PPG) and the team’s leading passer (3.6 APG) and stealer (3 SPG), while Savannah Kirkbride (6.2 PPG), Brooke Hansen (5.4 PPG), and Saria Eklund (3.8 PPG) were the third through fifth leading scorers respectively.
Now the Lady Broncs prepare to step on the court with raised expectations as the defending state champions, and they are without question up for the task.
”We can’t come in too headstrong. Like you still gotta play your hardest. You can’t expect things, things aren’t gonna be handed to you because you’re state champs. So we still gotta go in, still gotta play hard, and for us we had the target on our back last year. Coming down from 3A, we knew things were gonna be difficult and we know things are gonna be difficult this year. So we’re just gonna come in and play hard,” Griess said.
“Honestly like it’s just a challenge to us. Like we only lost two players, so we honestly have all the talent back. People might underestimate us again because we lost a really good player or two, but I wouldn’t underestimate us honestly,” Kirkbride added.
Burns tips off their season at home on Thursday against Moorcroft.
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