Lady Plainsmen Win Regional Championship

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen won their first Regional Championship in 17 years behind 17 points from Ragen Wilson in a 54-36 win over Gillette on Saturday. With the win, LHS earns the #1 seed from the East heading into the Class 4A Wyoming State Basketball Championships.

After making their way to the title game by defeating Sheridan on Friday night, Laramie was banking on the third time being the charm. The Lady Plainsmen were in the regional championship for the third consecutive year after losing the previous two and were facing the Lady Camels for the third time this season after losing the previous two in overtime.

The first quarter looked to resemble the earlier two meetings as Laramie was able to build up just a 4 point lead to see Gillette tie the game twice. LHS never trailed, but went into the second quarter tied at 11. That's when the Lady Plainsmen broke away, outscoring the Lady Camels 15-4 to take a 26-15 lead at the half.

Gillette got within 7 points late in the third quarter when Laramie got a big boost from the bench to extend the lead to 40-27 highlighted by Katie Kuhn's trey over a defender. The Lady Camels never threatened the rest of the way and the Lady Plainsmen took the title, 54-36.

In addition to Wilson, senior Kyleigh Hiser also scored in double figures with 13 points while Ali Beckler and Madison Legerski chipped in 9 each. Gillette was led by Julia Seamans with 8 points.

Now it's on to the state tournament in Casper where Laramie will play Kelly Walsh on Thursday, March 8th at 6 p.m. The Lady Plainsmen beat the Lady Trojans 44-22 and 41-23 in their two prior meetings this season. You can listen to all of Laramie's games at the state tournament on KOWB. David Settle and Verdon Hoopes will take over the air at 5:15 on Thursday.