Laramie Begins Conference Play

It's a big weekend for Laramie High School basketball, as both the Lady Plainsmen and Plainsmen start action in the 4A East today and tomorrow.

Laramie opens against Sheridan Friday night and will face Gillette on Saturday. The girls are at home, while the boys are on the road.

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen (7-6) host #1 Sheridan (11-1) tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the LHS gym. Then #4 Gillette (8-5) visits on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

The Lady Plainsmen will face the two of the top three scoring teams in the state. Both the Lady Broncs and Lady Camels are putting up around 58 or 59 points per game, which is 20 points more than the Laramie girls average at 38.5 points per game.

Laramie head coach Kyle Stucky says, " I think for us, it's execution, and making every possession count. We've been pretty careless with the ball at times, and when you get into conference play in a stacked conference that we're in, we going to need every single possession that we have. That's going to be the emphasis."

The Laramie Plainsmen (3-10) make the long road trip north for the two games. Third-ranked Sheridan (10-2) plays host to the LHS boys tonight. Then it's off to Gillette, where Laramie will take on the #2 Camels (10-3). The Sheridan game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m., while the Gillette game starts at 1:30 p.m.

Plainsmen head coach Chuck Kern says for us to compete, "We need to stay consistent on the rebounding. We've out-rebounded our opponents the last two games. We need that trend to continue. I'm really pleased with our scoring, but our defense has to improve."

LHS opens with the top two scoring teams in 4A boys' basketball. That actually isn't a huge concern to Kern.

He says, "I'm almost comfortable with a shoot-out the way we're shooting the ball lately. We do need to buy in more on the defensive end and continue to board."

The Plainsmen games will be broadcast by KOWB (AM 1290) and online. David Settle and VerDon Hoopes will call the action Friday night from Sheridan. The broadcast will start at 6:45 p.m. Saturday's game in Gillette will have a 12:45 p.m. start to the broadcast.