Girls win State consolation bracket

For the first time in a very long time, the Lady Wolves won a game at State.

Head coach Rick Carroll said even though the Lady Wolves have made it to State, he doesn't think they've won a game at the tournament since 2007.

The Lady Wolves broke that losing streak this weekend when they won not only one, but two games, which led them to become the consolation bracket winners. Carroll said they did receive some trophies for winning the consolation game, but the road to that win started out rough.

On Thursday, the Lady Wolves took on Thunder Basin, a team they hadn't played before, and lost 65-49.

"I think we just had one pretty bad quarter, second quarter," Carroll said.

During the second quarter, Thunder Basin outscored the Lady Wolves 20 to 5. Carroll said the Lady Wolves missed free throws and easy shots, while Thunder Basin continued to score.

Despite the Lady Wolves playing hard and not giving up, the damage of the second quarter was done.

"If you look at the rest of the game it was pretty much a tie," Carroll said.

In the first quarter, the Lady Wolves scored 11 to Thunder Basin's 12, in the third quarter they scored 17 to Thunder Basin's 14 and in the forth quarter they scored 16 to their 19.

"They are a pretty good team," Carroll said.

Thunder Basin went on to win the 4A Division basketball tournament, making them State champions this year.

After the loss, Carroll said the Lady Wolves seemed pretty disappointed, but after they watched a few other basketball games that day, they started to get focused on winning the game against Cheyenne Central on Friday.

Carroll said throughout the whole season they've been resilient and they are always ready to play the next game.

In their game against Cheyenne Central the team came ready to make it to Saturday's consolation round and Central was the only thing standing in their way.

The Lady Wolves out rebounded Central, took good care of the ball and made their free throws. All of these things, along with good defense, would get the Lady Wolves the win, 49-38.

They advanced to the consolation game and found out they would be playing their biggest rivals, the Rock Springs Lady Tigers, again this year.

It was their fifth match up against Rock Springs, but the Lady Wolves wanted those consolation trophies. They played consistent basketball, kept track of the Rock Springs leading scorers and continued to play good defense to get the win, 44-36.

"I think the last two weekends they played their best basketball of the year," Carroll said.

It paid off. He said the team played really well together to get were they ended up at State.

Leading the team in the Thunder Basin game was Kayde Strauss with 13 points, five rebounds and three steals, followed by Ashelyn Birch with 11 points, eight rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Leading the team in the Cheyenne Central game was Maddie Heiser with 19 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals and Strauss with 10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and one steal.

Leading the team in the Rock Springs game was Birch with 19 points, 16 rebounds, one assist, two clocks and one steal followed by Strauss with 18 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal.

All-State awards

First team All State: Maddie Heiser

Second team All State: Ashelyn Birch

All-Conference awards

First team All Conference: Maddie Heiser

First team All Conference: Ashelyn Birch

Second team All Conference: Kayde Strauss

Seniors leaving

Erika Wilson, Zoe Turner and Shya Deakins are the seniors who played for the Lady Wolves one last time at State.