Lady Cats goes up against Big Horn Thursday

The 2A West Regional tournament was played in Riverton last weekend, with eight teams competing for a chance to play in the State Championships, which will be held in Casper this week. With wins over both Wind River and Wyoming Indian, the Lady Cats played Rocky Mountain in the Regional Championship game on Saturday.

After completing the regular season with a 13-9 overall record - going 5-1 in the 2A Northwest Quad - the Lady Cats were seeded to the regionals as the number two team from the 2A Northwest Conference. To move on to the State Tournament, the Lady Cats needed two wins at regionals.

First up were the Lady Cougars of Wind River on Thursday night. The Cougars were the third seed for the 2A Southwest Conference. Perhaps feeling the enormity of the Tournament, the Lady Cats struggled to find the rim in the first quarter. That is, until freshman Logann Farrell, came in and provided the team with a needed spark.

Logann dropped a three-point shot in the first quarter, together with another in the second quarter – accounting for nine of the Lady Cats' first 22 points. By the end of the half, the Lady Cats were up by 22, and they never looked back. The final score was Thermopolis 53, and Wind River 28.

Wind River defeated Shoshoni on Friday, but fell on Saturday to the Lady Punchers from Big Piney. Big Piney will go into the State Championships as the number four seed from the West.

On Friday, the Lady Cats were faced with the number one Seed from the Southwest, Wyoming Indian. The Lady Chiefs are always a tough team to beat, and this game would prove no exception. With the two teams appearing to very evenly talented, the score at the end of regulation was tied at 49.

Judging from the very vocal, and at times hostile, crowd who had come to support the Lady Chiefs, a four minute overtime period was going to be a challenge. The Lady Cats were up to the task, however, and outscored Wyoming Indian in the overtime by 14-2 – leaving the final score a win for the Lady Cats at 63-51.

The Lady Chiefs had defeated Shoshoni on Thursday, and then topped Greybull on Saturday to earn a three seed in the championship tournament.

And with that, the Lady Cats would play in the Regional Championship game on Saturday. The Lady Grizzlies of Rocky Mountain would be their opponent. Rocky Mountain earned their birth in the Regional Championship by defeating Kemmerer on Thursday and Big Piney on Friday.

The Lady Cats and the Lady Grizz, are two very talented teams, and had split their two meetings in conference play, with each team winning at home. Being pretty evenly matched, the teams would flip the lead throughout the game, practically with every change of possession. A more competitive game would be hard to imagine.

In the fourth quarter the Lady Cats had been down by as much as seven points, however, they battled back to tie the score at 53 at the end of regulation. And so, it would be back-to-back overtime games for Thermopolis.

Those four minutes, however, would not end the same as they had the night before. With the Lady Cats in foul trouble at the end of the fourth, and with those fouls carrying over into overtime by rule, seniors Hanna Hill and Austin Slagle both fouled out. Good free-throw shooting from the Lady Grizz, coupled with a return of shooting struggles by the Lady Cats combined to put Rocky Mountain in the lead, with a final score of 63-58.

Heading into this week's championship tournament, Rocky Mountain will be the number one Seed from the West, and Thermopolis will be the West number two. To begin the State Tournament, the Lady Cats will play Big Horn on Thursday night at Casper College.