Laramie Closes Out the Regular Season on the Road

In the final game of the regular season, Laramie High School heads to Cheyenne to take on the South Bison in a girls-boys doubleheader on Friday night.

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen are locked in at the No. 4 seed from the Southeast Quadrant, win or lose. The Plainsmen need a victory to secure the No. 3 seed.

Laramie Plainsmen

Laramie (10-9, 1-4) is coming off losses last weekend to No. 2 Cheyenne East, 80-54, and top-ranked Cheyenne Central, 69-44.

The Plainsmen face a South team they beat at home a month ago, 69-49. The Bison will welcome back former coach Jim Shaffer, who spent eight years as their head coach, but is now with Laramie.

Shaffer joked that he’s not looking forward to going back.

As for the game, Shaffer it’s about preparing for the postseason.

“We’ve got to continue to work on things that will help us be successful at the regional basketball tournament in a week.”

LHS will be short-handed, as leading scorer and rebounder Christian Mickelson is out with an injury.

In the first game, Shaffer thought they played well defensively against South’s top scorer, Cameron Bird. He’s averaging 18 points per game.

“I thought Tyler Oppie did a great job defending him. I think he finished with nine and a lot of that was late. If we can do a great job on him, our chances are pretty good.”

The game starts at 7 p.m. in Cheyenne.

Laramie Lady Plainsmen

Laramie (4-15, 0-5) lost both its’ games last weekend to No. 2 Cheyenne East, 65-37, and third-rated Cheyenne Central, 54-34.

Lady Plainsmen head coach Rod Tyson did not coach in the first meeting between the two schools. He was serving game two of his automatic suspension after he received two technical fouls and was ejected nine days earlier (Jan. 22).

What did Tyson take away from watching the film of the first meeting? Cheyenne South has some quickness.

“We gave up a lot of lay-ups. We’d miss a couple of shots, and they would push it up the floor real quick and get lay-ups. As soon as we made a run, they’d get a quick two or three lay-ups and extend it (the lead) back up.”

The Bison won the first meeting last month, 41-30, in Laramie.

Tyson knows this is their final tune-up before the regional tournament next week in Gillette.

“There are no more excuses, right? This is our last game before the third part of our season. Regionals is a new season.”

Laramie looks for some momentum heading into next week with a road break-through on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Broadcast Coverage

KOWB radio (AM 1290) will provide live coverage of Friday night’s doubleheader from Cheyenne. The broadcast will start at 5 p.m. David Settle will call the action. You can listen on your radio, through the KOWB app, or online.