Plainsmen Keep Rolling, While Lady Plainsmen Fall Short

The Saturday 4A East Conference match-up between Laramie and Cheyenne East was a split. The second ranked Laramie boys ran their win streak to four straight games, as they downed the East Thunderbirds 74-54. Meanwhile, the #5 Laramie girls came up short in their upset bid of the #2 East Lady T-Birds, as they lost 50-40.

Laramie (14-3, 4-1) jumped out to a 21-9 lead after the first quarter and finished off the East Thunderbirds by pulling away for the 74-54 win.

Tyler Loose led four Plainsmen in double figures with 20 points. It was his third consecutive 20-point game, and he also grabbed 11 rebounds. Sam Feldman had 15 points, Sam Hainline 13 and Drew Burman added 10 points.

Plainsmen coach Chuck Kern said, You kind of worry about the emotions and things like that on a senior night. The game can kind of get away from you, sometimes, especially at the start. I thought they controlled their emotions. About midway through the second quarter, I really felt comfortable that they were beginning to pull away."

LHS shot 57 percent (28-49) from the field, was 7-17 (41 percent) from deep and 11-of-14 (79 percent) at the free throw line. They out-rebounded East 31-18, which included nine offensive rebounds.

East (5-12, 2-3) was led by Dixon Maggard with 15 points. They shot 46 percent on field goals.

As for where they are at the halfway point of conference play, Coach Kern said, "We're going to have to close out the second half, just as we did the first half. The kids have really put themselves in an area of strength in the conference standings."

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen (12-5, 2-3) lost their top-five showdown to the second-ranked Cheyenne East Lady T-Birds by 10 points. A 17-0 run to start the second half propelled East to the 50-40 victory.

Laramie coach Rod Tyson said, "They (East) are a really good team. They just started pounding the boards. They started the third quarter off with those two and one's. They just opened it up, and we missed a couple of shots that we would normally make."

LHS started out well with a 7-0 spurt and held an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. Eventually, the Lady Plainsmen built an 11-point lead at 19-8 early in the second period before the Lady T-Birds rallied and cut the deficit to four points by halftime, 25-21.

East (16-2, 4-1) made their big run and out-scored Laramie 19-4 in the third quarter and held off any challenge by the Lady Plainsmen in the fourth.

Neither team shot the ball well. East went 17-70 (24%) from the field, but held a 53-33 edge on the glass and that included 26 offensive boards. LHS was 11-49 (22%) on field goals, which included only three in the second half. They also went 4-27 (15%) from 3-point range.

Laramie was led by Madison Legerski with 13 points, while Katie Kuhn added 12.

The Lady Thunderbirds were led by Elissia Johnson with 16 points. Sara Erickson added 13.

As for the midpoint of 4A East Conference action, coach Rod Tyson said, "I think we're about where we should be right now. There's a few things we've got to sure up in order for us to beat those top, elite teams, Gillette, Sheridan and East. We can't have any letdowns. We can't have a bad quarter, we've have to be solid the whole time."

Both Laramie teams return to action this Friday and Saturday against Gillette and Sheridan. The Laramie Plainsmen will be on the road, while the Laramie Lady Plainsmen will host those two teams in their final two home games of the season. Friday night is Senior Night and a cancer awareness game at the LHS gym.

Both Plainsmen games will be broadcast, with the Gillette game on KOWB, while the Sheridan game will be Internet ONLY through www.network1sports.com/station/kowbnet. David Settle and VerDon Hoopes will call the action.