Tonasket junior Michelle Carlson tries to make a shot despite some Okanogan Bulldog’s best efforts to tip it during Tonasket’s home game on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Photo by Terry Mills

TONASKET – After two home losses last week, the Tonasket girls’ basketball team is traveling to Cashmere for their final game of the season.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Tigers lost at home to Okanogan 50-20.

“We really had a difficult time getting our offense going,” Stephanie Schertenleib, head coach, said. “Okanogan played very solid defense but we just weren’t being aggressive on the offensive end. Our team never gave up though and really worked hard on defense. We also just had too many turnovers; no team will win when they commit 32 turnovers. Jayden Hawkins really crashed the boards hard having nine rebounds, five points and two assists.”

Junior Taylor Ayers said she thought the Tigers had an awesome defensive game, but there were a few things the team needed to put together and just wasn’t able to.

“I think if we can put everything together, we can have a win by the end of the season,” Ayers said.

On Saturday, Feb. 6, the Tigers lost at home to Cascade 52-32.

“Again, our turnovers ended up killing us in this game and we had 24 of them,” Schertenleib said. “Our girls stayed aggressive, got some good offensive looks but we let them have too many second chance points and didn’t get back well on transition. We had a few players that played well for us during this game.”

Hawkins had five points, seven rebounds and two steals while senior April Webber had 10 points, six rebounds and two steals, junior Shelby Olma had nine points and six rebounds and Ayers had five points, seven rebounds and two steals.

“We never gave up and we kept trying even though we were losing,” junior Michelle Carlson said. “I think we did a really good job coming together in this game. Even though we struggled this season, we still had success as a team and achieved our team goals.”

Schertenleib said one of the most positive things that have come out of the last few games is the development of the team’s mental toughness.

“When you are having a hard time winning it becomes easy to just give up and they have not done that,” she said. “Instead, they have been working hard and rallying around each other to continue to improve every time they step on the court. What coach wouldn’t want a team like that? I have progressively enjoyed coaching them more and more every game we play; they have really shown me a lot of heart during a difficult season. I like to think we will end our season on a positive note. I think we can compete with Omak and Cashmere but if our girls just focus on improving every game we will come out of the season feeling like we have accomplished something positive.”

As of press time, the Tigers (0-12, 1-18) had not yet played at home against Omak on Tuesday, Feb. 9. Their final game of the season is on Saturday, Feb. 13 in Cashmere at 6 p.m.