Laramie Basketball Splits at Rawlins, Sweeps Rock Springs

Laramie won three out of four games over the last weekend, as they concluded non-conference play with games at Rawlins and at home versus Rock Springs.

The Laramie girls won both their contests, while the boys split the weekend.

LHS will start conference play at home on Wednesday and Friday.

Laramie Lady Plainsmen

Laramie beat 3A Rawlins in a blowout and pulled away from Rock Springs to improve to 7-4 on the season.

Last Friday night, the Lady Plainsmen rolled at Rawlins, 69-25. Laramie scored the first five points of the game and never trailed. They led 21-7 before the Outlaws mounted a small comeback in the second quarter. Rawlins trimmed the LHS lead to 24-17, but Laramie finished the first half on a 13-0 run. It was 37-17 Lady Plainsmen at halftime. The lead reached 39 points in the third quarter and eventually got to 44 points and running clock in the final frame.

Addie Forry and Morgann Jensen had career-highs of 22 and 20 points, respectively.

On Saturday, after a few early lead changes, Laramie steadily pulled away in the first half. They were ahead 25-13 at halftime. The lead reached 16 points in the third quarter before Rock Springs made a surge. LHS stayed composed and won 54-39. Jensen had 11 points, while Kylin Shipman added 10 points. The Lady Plainsmen also got 11 points off their bench and shot 54 percent in the game.

“I’m excited about what we were able to accomplish in the non-conference,” said Laramie head coach Terrance Reese. “It was a tough non-conference schedule. We saw a couple of No. 1 (ranked) teams. We started off the year at Natrona (in Casper). Being able to battle with Rock Springs and Green River up there (in Casper), and only having two home games, and to come out of it with seven wins, I think that was something very positive that we can take from all of this.”

LHS has their biggest test to start 4A East Conference play against the top-ranked Cheyenne East Lady T-Birds on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

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Laramie Plainsmen

It was a tale of two different games for the boys’ team, who lost at Rawlins but bounced back to beat Rock Springs.

Friday night, LHS was overwhelmed by early turnovers and lost to the Outlaws, 69-38. Laramie didn’t score their first points until 1:45 left in the first quarter. They trailed 20-2 in the second before a 10-2 run pulled them within 22-12. That’s as close as the Plainsmen got. Rawlins ended the first half on a 13-3 run and led 35-15 at halftime. The lead reached 33 points for the Outlaws in the second half. No one scored in double figures for LHS. Trey Enzi had nine points. Laramie allowed Rawlins to shoot 52 percent from the field.

Bolstered by their bench, the Plainsmen defeated Rock Springs for the third time this season last Saturday, 63-57.

Down 14-9 in the second quarter and in foul trouble, LHS finished the first half on a 21-6 run. They led 30-20 at the break. The lead reached 14 points in the second half before the Tigers tried to rally in the fourth quarter. Neil Summers had 14 points and eight rebounds to pace Laramie, but it was their bench that scored 27 points that turned out to be a key part of the game.

The LHS boys are now 8-3 on the season.

Head coach Jim Shaffer believes they have to be better, but if they can continue to compete and work hard, they can work at playing smarter and executing.

“You can’t feel bad about 8-3. There were a couple of those (games) that we played really poorly. The Douglas and the Rawlins games, you’d like to have back a little bit, but for the most part, we did a lot of good things (in the non-conference), and 8-3 is a heck of a lot better than 3-8.”

The Plainsmen open the 4A East Conference at home on Wednesday versus No. 4 Cheyenne East at 7:30 p.m.

As of now, thanks to the reworking of the University of Wyoming basketball schedules, the start of conference play will be a streaming-only broadcast through www.Network1sports.com/station/kowbnet. There will be no radio or KOWB app on Wednesday night.