Laramie Dominates in Doubleheader Sweep of South

After a okay conference opening weekend for the Laramie Plainsmen and tough road swing for the Laramie Lady Plainsmen, both teams were ready to play in Saturday's games against Cheyenne South. The Lady Plainsmen set the tone with a 52-34 win over the Lady Bison. The Plainsmen followed with a dominate 65-32 victory against the Bison.

Thanks to a big third quarter, the 5th-ranked Lady Plainsmen (11-4, 1-2) got their first win in conference play. After an 0-2 trip on the road to Gillette and Sheridan, Laramie came back home and got back on the right track. The Lady Plainsmen were sluggish early on and led only 18-11 at half, but controlled the third quarter. Madison Legerski scored 13 of her game-high 17 points, as LHS out-scored South 21-10 in the period and led 39-21 going into the fourth. South was unable to make a push, and the Lady Plainsmen finished off the Lady Bison, 52-34.

Laramie girls coach Rod Tyson said, "We just started out flat. I think the confidence was down. I don't know if it was playing in front of the home fans or what, but we gotta get it going. At halftime we talked about that, and they turned it around."

Legerski added 9 rebounds to her point total, while Katie Kuhn followed with 15 points. Laramie only shot 32 percent from the field, but held the Lady Bison to 7-44 (16%) on field goals. The Lady Plainsmen also forced 29 South turnovers.

Tyson added his two seniors each had their moment saying, "Katie sort of got us going in the first half or at least kept us ahead. Then Madison got on fire, and that opens up lots of things for us."

South (4-12, 0-3) was led by Stephanie Dickinson and Dani Noble with 12 points apiece. Dickinson grabbed 18 rebounds.

The Laramie Plainsmen (12-3, 2-1) opened strong with an 11-1 run. They never let up through the first three quarters of action. LHS was up 15-7 after the first and and then pushed the advantage to 42-14 at half, as they out-scored the Bison 27-7 in the second. An 18-5 third period put the running clock in effect for the second time this season. Laramie finished off the South boys 65-32.

Laramie assistant coach Bruce Schmidt said, "We got a lot of seniors, they know how to produce when it comes game time. I thought they really stepped up today and kind of took care of business."

Tyler Loose led the way with 20 points and Sam Hainline followed with 14. The Plainsmen shot 47 percent from the field and held the Bison to 32 percent. They also took advantage of 24 South turnovers. LHS finished with only 9 turnovers, which included only 4 in the first three quarters.

Senior Abel Casas, who added 9 points and 4 rebounds in the win, said, "It was kind of a weird week of practice with our coach (Head Coach Chuck Kern) out, being sick, so our main focus today was set the tone early and not led Isaiah (Sims) and (Kyhler) Cummings get going."

Cheyenne South (7-9, 0-3) lost their fourth straight game. They were led by Cummings and Adam Haberkorn, who each scored 7 points. Sims was held to one field goal and four points.

Both the Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen continue their home-stand next weekend when they host the Central Indians Friday night and East Thunderbirds Saturday afternoon at the LHS gym. Friday's doubleheader action has the girls varsity game at 5:45 pm, with the boys varsity game at 7:30 pm. Saturday's doubleheader features the girls game at 11:45 am and the boys at 1:30 pm. You can listen to LHS basketball on KOWB. David Settle and VerDon Hoopes will call the action on Friday at 5 pm. Saturday will be an on-line broadcast through www.network1sports.com/station/kowbnet and will begin at 11 am.