By the time you read this, the Bingham Miners girls basketball team will be tunnelling into a Region 2 slate that they will be trying to chip their way out of. 

At the outset, new head coach Hector Marquez admitted that things were a bit topsy turvy during the Miners first four games. 

“The season is going well. We have had some ups and downs, but we are in a good position,” Marquez said. 

In the Region 2 opener Jan. 9 against rival Riverton, Bingham used a 12-1 third quarter run to erase a halftime deficit and chip away until the scoreboard clock read zero and the Miners were winners by the final score of 57-41. Senior Addy Horsley led the way with 14 points and had four steals to go with three rebounds, but two other players in senior wing Lena Casperson [10 points, 8 rebs] and junior guard Stacia Peoples [7-2-2-2] contributed for the Miners in ways other than just scoring the basketball. 

All season long, the Miners have been trying to live up to their namesakes. They’ve been chipping away at this blank slate of games that did not start so great at two wins and two losses. 

Since that point, Bingham [10-4, 1-0 Region 2] has been on a roll, having only lost two games out of 10, a streak that included a 3-1 record at the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions over the holidays. 

At the Nike tourney in Phoenix, Arizona the Miners dispatched two area schools in Basha and Kellis and held on in a squeaker over Rialto [California]. Even in their lone defeat against West Linn [Portland] of Oregon, Horsley led a team effort. 

Horsley has often been joined at the top of the scoresheets by 5-foot-7 Casperson, who pumped in a season-high 24 points in a 54-47 win over Basha. 

In the 53-44 victory over Kellis High, Horsley’s 16-point outburst was helped by 5-foot-10 wing Raylynn Richardson, who dropped in 10 points and had five rebounds to go with two steals. 

And in Bingham’s 47-45 squeaker over Rialto [California], Horsley got 13 points—but Casperson contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds to lift the Miners. Junior guard Stacia Peoples pumped in eight points and senior Iman Finau went 8-6-5 in points, rebounds and assists. Bingham trailed this game 22-18 at halftime, but a 16-8 third quarter burst gave the Miners the impetus they needed to hold on for their third victory of the tournament. 

On their return from Arizona’s Nike tournament, the Miners played Syracuse in a non-region game. Bingham fell 43-41 and despite getting 13 points from Horsley could not find a way to win. Peoples and sophomore Evy Roberts pitched in eight points apiece. 

Key to that push to improve upon last season’s 13-11 record has been Horsley. In her second season at Bingham, the Mountain Ridge transfer has taken on the reins of the operation, averaging 15 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists per game, a severe uptick for a player who was on the 6A third-team a year ago but was named to the 6A first-team two years ago. 

If Horsley is anywhere near her 2022-23 form that she displayed at Mountain Ridge, opponents will need to keep an eye out. The senior is already at 45 steals on the season and is now ranked on the school’s all-time modern-day top 10 list. If Horsley gets 24 more steals, she will break Bingham’s all-time modern-day single-season record set by Shawnee Nordstrom back in the 2020-21 school year. 

In addition, Casperson is already scoring the basketball better than last season. The senior wing’s 10 points per game are a huge value added to a team that really needed someone to contribute more on the offensive end—particularly since last year’s leading scorer Brianna Badonie graduated. 

Bingham is also getting good production from Roberts and Peoples, each of whom average six points per game. Finau is pitching in about five points per game and is the team’s leading rebounder at seven per outing and the Miners’ top passer, at three assists per contest. Finau is already at 29 blocks on the season and needs just three more to become Bingham’s all-time single-season blocks leader. 

As the team heads into the teeth of Region 2 play and will play 10 league games from Jan. 14 to Feb. 13, they’ll be chipping away at a Region 2 slate that will give the Miners an opportunity to notch a win every 2.85 days. 

It’ll be up to Bingham’s girls basketball team to handle that drill wisely.  λ