Tonasket junior Shelby Olma looks for a teammate to pass to past Cashmere senior Shelby Holt during Tonasket’s home game against Cashmere on Saturday, Jan. 9. Photo by Emily Hanson

TONASKET – The Tonasket girls’ basketball team lost to Cashmere at home days after losing to Okanogan on the road, making their record 0-4 in the Caribou Trail League, 1-10 overall.

On Tuesday, Jan. 5, the Tigers lost to Okanogan 71-22.

“Okanogan is a great team loaded with experience and talent, we had a hard time breaking the press and they have so many offensive tools both on and off the bench they are extremely hard to defend,” Stephanie Schertenleib, head coach, said. “We had some defensive lapses and their defense makes it difficult to get many good looks at the basket. One of our biggest problems was our turnovers. We also only had five people even score in the game.”

Junior Jerian Ashley led in scoring with six points while senior April Webber had five points, junior Jayden Hawkins had four points, sophomore Amber Kilpatrick had four points and junior Shelby Olma had three points. Hawkins, sophomore Michelle Timmerman and Webber each had four rebounds.

On Saturday, Jan. 9, the Tigers lost at home to Cashmere 64-33.

“I thought our play reminded me of a rollercoaster,” Schertenleib said. “We had part where we played pretty well and at a high level and then we had periods where we played poorly. Unfortunately, there were more lows than highs in this game and that is something we are going to have to work on if we expect to compete in this league.”

Webber led the team in scoring with 12 points while Olma had nine. Webber also had seven rebounds, one blocked shot and went 4-6 from the freethrow line. Junior Karen Keeton had two assists and one steal, Hawkins had five rebounds and one assist and Kilpatrick had two steals.

“We had our ups and downs,” Webber said. “We really competed when we were on our ‘up.’ I think the team is definitely improving and we’re trying our hardest to stay positive.”

Schertenleib said the team, who as of press time had not yet played away against Lake Roosevelt on Tuesday, Jan. 12, would have a good shot at winning against the Raiders if they limit their turnovers.

Their next game is Saturday, Jan. 16 away against Cascade at 6 p.m. and Schertenleib said the game will be challenging for the girls, especially since it’s on the road.