Lady Plainsmen Earn Bid to State with 53-48 Win

Facing the biggest pressure game of the season, the Laramie Lady Plainsmen picked up their biggest win of the season, as they held off Cheyenne Central Lady Indians 53-48 in the first round of the 4A East Regional tournament. With the victory, Laramie seals their berth to the State Tournament in Casper next week and advances on to face #1 Sheridan in the Regional semifinals Friday night in Gillette.Lady Plainsmen head coach Rod Tyson said, "Survive and advance, right. We did it!"

Laramie (15-8) had to hang on to advance. An 10-0 spurt by Central cut Laramie's 17-point lead down to 47-40 with just under four minutes left. A Madison Legerski lay-up finally stopped the run, but Central kept the comeback going and trimmed it to a 3-point game, at 51-48, inside of a minute. Legerski knocked down clutch free throws and preserved the key 5-point win.

Tyson also said, "The first three quarters I thought we had complete control of the game. Fourth quarter, we had some horrible passes, turnovers, bad shots and stuff that we shouldn't be doing."

Still Laramie was able to hang on. Legerski led the way with a game-high 21 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Katie Kuhn added 13 points.

Legerski said, "We just started out being really, really aggressive, and we knew that the team with more heart would win. So, we just worked hard on every single play and just brought it all together."

Central (11-13) was led by Kayleen Selfridge with 17 points and Sierra Kuno had 12.

LHS held a 14-point lead at halftime, 30-16, as they out-scored the Lady Indians 15-4 in the second quarter. The Lady Plainsmen kept the lead between 12 and 16 points for most of the third quarter and held a 43-28 edge as the fourth period began.

Laramie heads on the road to the 4A East Regional Tournament site in Gillette for their next game against the top-ranked and top-seed Sheridan Lady Broncs in the semifinals Friday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

KOWB will provide live coverage of both Laramie High school teams in the semifinals Friday night. The 3rd-ranked and 2nd-seed Laramie Plainsmen will take on Cheyenne Central in their semifinal. David Settle and VerDon Hoopes will call the doubleheader action from Gillette. Broadcast coverage will start at 5 p.m.