Laramie Boys Basketball Fares Better Than Girls in Weekend Action

The Laramie boys won two games, and the Laramie girls won one at the Taco John’s Invite for basketball last weekend.

After a few schedule revisions for various reasons, LHS played three games in two days with the last one at home on Saturday.

The Lady Plainsmen were 1-2. They lost to Douglas and Windsor, CO, but beat Rock Springs. They are now 5-4 on the season.

The Plainsmen went 2-1. After a loss to Douglas, they defeated Rock Springs and Windsor, CO, and improved to 7-2 this season.

Laramie Lady Plainsmen

Laramie opened the tournament against 3A’s top-ranked Douglas Lady Bearcats. Laramie lost 53-33 on Friday in Cheyenne at Central High School.

After a slow start, LHS trailed 14-4 after the first quarter but trimmed it to 27-18 at halftime. Laramie cut the Douglas lead to four early in the second half before the Bearcats pulled away in the fourth quarter. Ruby Dorrell had 10 points and 11 rebounds to pace the Lady Plainsmen.

In game two last Friday in Cheyenne at East High School, Laramie topped Rock Springs, 49-37. LHS scored the first four points of the game but trailed after the first quarter, 12-7. The Lady Plainsmen rallied for a 21-19 lead at halftime. It was 33-28 after the third period, and LHS steadily pulled away in the fourth for a 12-point victory. Morgann Jensen and Kylin Shipman scored 13 points apiece in the win.

Saturday saw LHS play the No. 2 ranked team in Class 4A from Colorado, the Windsor Wizards, and Laramie fell short, 51-41. They scored the first six points of the game, but Laramie fought back in it. There were six lead changes in the first quarter. The Wizards held a 14-11 lead at the end of the quarter. Windsor pushed their lead to nine points in the second, at 25-16, but the Lady Plainsmen trimmed the deficit to 28-23 at halftime. The third was a defensive period, where LHS out-scored the Wizards, six-to-four. It was 32-29 as they started the final quarter. Windsor opened on a 9-2 run and pulled away for the 10-point victory. Jensen paced Laramie with 12 points and five rebounds.

To sum up the 1-2 weekend, LHS girls’ basketball head coach Terrance Reese said I just want the girls to know that we can compete with the better teams.

“When we play together, and we move the ball, and we take care of the ball, and we talk on defense, and we do all those little things, that we’re going to be a tough out.”

Reese emphasized they are building to be better in March (the postseason).

“We want to be ready to play against these (tougher) teams, and win these close games in March. That’s what we take out of it (the weekend), is just our effort level, our competitiveness, and just our want-to, our will, just fixing those things, I think we’ll be good.”

Laramie Plainsmen

After a tough opening game of the tournament, the short-handed Plainsmen won their last two.

Down two starters entering the weekend, LHS lost a third to an injury early in the loss to Douglas. The Bearcats rolled over Laramie, 52-24. They led 13-3 in the first quarter and 31-11 in the second. The lead reached 32 points in the third quarter before Douglas took their foot off the gas pedal.

In the second game of the day last Friday, Laramie rallied from a 9-point deficit with four minutes left and beat Rock Springs, 49-48. Levi Brown scored a career-high 16 points and Jackson Devine added 14 points, which included a career-best four made 3-pointers.

It was a close game until late in the third quarter. There were 10 lead changes and the game was tied seven times through the first three periods. Rock Springs led 43-36 after the third, thanks to 22 points in that quarter. LHS trailed 45-36 with four minutes left and finished the game on a 13-3 run for the victory. Brown’s two free throws with 3.4 seconds left gave Laramie the win.

Head coach Jim Shaffer thought it was a big win.

“I thought responded pretty well to what happened earlier in the day. Two hours later, to come out and play as hard as we did, and compete, and down three starters, and win a basketball game, it just says a lot about our kids.”

On Saturday, Laramie held off Windsor, CO, 59-58.

The Plainsmen jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the first quarter, and eventually, led by as many as 11 in the second period. Windsor rallied with the last ten points of the half and cut the LHS lead to 19-18 at halftime. There were four lead changes and the game was tied twice in the third quarter. The Wizards led 35-33 at the end of the period. It was 46-44 Windsor in the fourth when the Laramie went on a 7-0 run and took the lead for good. It was capped by Brown’s 3-pointer from the right-wing that put the Plainsmen ahead 51-46. Laramie made just enough plays and free throws in the final minutes to win by one. Windsor hit a three with less than three seconds left, and Laramie didn’t have to inbound the ball and time ran out.

Trey Enzi led the way with 17 points. Diego Medina scored 16 points, all of them in the second half. Devine added 11 points.

Coach Shaffer felt his three seniors all stepped up against Windsor.

“They showed great leadership. Trey had 17, I think J.D. (Jackson Devine) had 11, and Diego had 16, so our three seniors were special. If we can get that out of those three all the time, and we’ll get Mahlon (Morris) back eventually, and get back to full strength, I mean, that’s a good basketball team we beat today (Saturday). To win short-handed, and I can’t say enough about how we bounced back from that debacle yesterday afternoon against Douglas, so hopefully, we can continue to get this thing figured out.”

Both Laramie teams conclude non-conference play at Rawlins on Friday night and home versus Rock Springs on Saturday.