Green River earns sweep of Laramie

Richard Anderson photos

Laramie senior Brea Curry breaks down the court after a steal before converting a layup Friday against Green River. At bottom, Laramie junior Jon Sorenson tried to get past a couple of Green River defenders.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen had the makings of a nice home-court win against Green River on Friday night.

The problem was, their was still eight seconds left and the Wolves had the ball.

Trailing by one point, Green River’s Dani Hardy hit a running floater just inside the 3-point line as time ran out to sink the Lady Plainsmen 51-50 at Plainsman Gym.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Green River ran past the Plainsmen 68-51.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the 5-5 Lady Plainsmen, who battled back from a five-point deficit with two minutes remaining.

Laramie coach Rod Tyson credited the Wolves for making one more play.

“It was a deep shot. You make some of those and you miss some of those,” Tyson said. “We tried to put pressure on, keep her in front, and I thought we had pretty good pressure. Obviously, she made the shot.”

Laramie’s McKenzie Harris hit 1-of-2 free throws with 8.1 seconds left to set up the final play.

“Whether she gets loose or not, she still had to make the shot,” Tyson said of Hardy. “She made the shot. Sometimes you are on the good end of those things, sometimes you are on the bad end. That’s just part of the game.”

It a tight defensive battle, the Lady Plainsmen had the slight edge in the first half, leading 7-6 at the end of the first quarter and 21-18 at halftime. Green River hit a last-second shot to close the third quarter for a 36-35 edge with eight minutes to play.

Green River’s biggest lead came late in the fourth quarter on a basket by Hardy and a 3-pointer by Sarah Pickle.

The Lady Plainsmen clawed their way back with a 3-pointer by junior Alyssa Schmidt and tied the game at 46-each on a steal and layup by senior Brea Curry. Laramie led 49-48 on a basket by Kylie Olson and a free throw by Kyleigh Hiser with 33 seconds left.

Hardy led the Wolves, 6-6, with 23 points.

Tyson said his young team is getting a little tougher and smarter, which showed in the final couple of minutes.

“One thing that I know is we are not going to give up, we’re always fighting,” Tyson said. “We could have easily given up with a couple of minutes left.”

Hiser, just a freshman, came off the bench to lead Laramie with 13 points.

“Kyleigh Hiser is becoming a real steady force for us,” Tyson said. “That’s a good thing. She didn’t make too many of her jump shots, but she is always pounding the ball real tough. She’s made a lot of progress -- she’s only a freshman.

“McKenzie Harris really picked it up for us. The good thing about our team is somebody stepping up different every game.”

Harris scored six points, all in the second half.

The Lady Plainsmen will return to action on Saturday at Rock Springs, beginning at 6 p.m.

Plainsmen start slow
Too little, too late might be an understatement for the Plainsmen at times this season. It certainly was on Friday night, as the talented Wolves led from start to finish.

Laramie did make a run, though, outscoring Green River 19-2 to begin the fourth quarter, after the Wolves led 54-27 at the end of three.

The Plainsmen, 4-6, cut the lead to 10 with 3:30 to play, but could get no closer.

Laramie coach Jason Mountain told his team at the end of the third quarter that it was now or never.

“But I’m tired of us making those late fourth-quarter runs,” Mountain said. “I’ve said this time and again, it’s too little, too late sometimes. Two out of the last three games we have tried to claw our way back into it. We were down way to far; we dug ourselves a huge hole.

Mountain added that it is easy to play well when there is nothing on the line, when you are down by 27 points.

“There’s no pressure on you,” he said. “I tried to light the fire on them several times and it didn’t seem to grab on.”

Without leading scorer Dan Estes, the Plainsmen have had problems with a leader out on the court, especially in these situations.

“That was a big part of what went out when we lost Dan Estes.” Mountain said. “I think a lot of our identity went and we’re still trying to regain that and try to find ourselves still. I think somebody needs to step up. Allen West chose to do that last Saturday, but really no one chose to do it (Friday night). Really, I don’t need just one guy, I need everybody because I have a bunch of guys who are hard workers, but aren’t all-state players. I need somebody to step up and act like an all-state player.”

Green River (8-4) was paced by Drew Martinez’s 24 points. The Wolves jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the game and led 19-6 after one period and 38-18 at halftime.

Mountain said there is no doubt that the Wolves are a talented team.

“They have a great ballclub,” Mountain said. “They are very athletic, very long, just basketball-oriented. They know where to go, they know the looks.”

Karsten Hiser led the Plainsmen with 13 points, followed by Jon Sorenson with nine and Mason Orcutt with eight.

Laramie will look to bounce back Saturday at Rock Springs, with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.