Second Half of Conference Play on Tap for Laramie High School Basketball

There's just three weekends left in the high school basketball regular season in Wyoming. Both Laramie High School teams will start the second round of 4A East Conference action against Gillette and Sheridan Friday and Saturday.

Both teams struggled through the first half of league play. The Laramie Lady Plainsmen are in a three-way tie for fourth place at 1-4 in the conference. The Laramie Plainsmen went win-less, at 0-5, the first time through. Both squads will face two top-four ranked opponents to start the second half of 4A East action.

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen (8-10, 1-4) are coming off their first conference win last Friday night at Cheyenne Central. They're back on the road facing #3 Gillette (12-6, 4-1) Friday night, and then they play at top-ranked Sheridan (16-1, 5-0) on Saturday afternoon.

Laramie lost to both teams at home three weeks ago. Number-one Sheridan topped the Lady Plainsmen 56-39, while the 3rd-ranked Camels defeated the LHS girls 71-53.

Lady Plainsmen head coach Kyle Stucky says, "We have two very, very quality opponents this weekend in Sheridan and Gillette. Both teams are very aggressive and very physical, and they shoot the ball well. They're averaging close to 60 points per game, and we're closer to 40. We need to change the tempo of the game a little bit to help ourselves this weekend."

The game at Gillette is set for a 7:30 p.m. start tonight (February 14), while Saturday, February 15, the Lady Plainsmen at Sheridan is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Laramie's boy's (3-15, 0-5) have the advantage of playing four of their final five regular season games in conference at home. It starts tonight (February 14), as the Plainsmen host the #1 Gillette Camels at LHS. Tomorrow they'll face the fourth-ranked Sheridan Broncs.

When the Plainsmen faced these two foes on the road three weeks back, LHS lost at Sheridan 73-53 and at Gillette 87-71.

Laramie head coach Chuck Kern says, "Gillette and Sheridan are good teams. I feel like our guys can compete with them, and getting them here on our home court, who knows, and why not us? Let's get after them; that's why I've really been encouraging the guys to just stick with it. How do you want this year to finish up? What lessons can we take away from this?"

There are a couple of themes associated with the two homes games, as sponsored by the Laramie Boys Basketball Booster Club.

Friday, February 14, is "Everyone Loves a Hero" night at LHS. A local, Laramie "hero" will be honored at halftime. There's no information about who is being honored. So, it's a mystery, and you'll have to be there to find out.

Saturday, February 15, is "Future Plainsmen" day. Youngsters in the stands will be invited down at halftime to compete against one another in a game of knockout.

Tonight's game (Friday) versus the Camels is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start. Saturday (February 15) afternoon's match-up against the Broncs is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.

You can listen the Plainsmen game against Gillette on KOWB (AM 1290) or by clicking here. The broadcast will start at 6:45 p.m. with David Settle and VerDon Hoopes calling the action.

Saturday will be an online only stream, due to our conflict with Wyoming Cowgirl basketball, at www.network1sports.com/station/kowbnet. Coverage begins at 12:45 p.m. with David Settle and VerDon Hoopes on the call.