It’s Home Sweet Home for Laramie High School Basketball
For the first time this season the Laramie High School Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen basketball teams will play on their home court.
Laramie welcomes Green River for a girls-boys doubleheader tonight at Laramie High School. The girls’ varsity game is at 5:30 p.m. followed by the boys’ game at 7 p.m.
These two games are part of the Taco John’s Invitational, where LHS gets home games on Thursday and Saturday, but will travel to Cheyenne and play on a neutral floor Friday. Tomorrow’s action is against Kelly Walsh at Storey Gym. The boys’ varsity is at 12:30 p.m., while the girls’ varsity game is at 8 p.m. Saturday Laramie is back home to host Pine Bluffs. The Plainsmen face the Hornets at 2:30 p.m. The Lady Plainsmen take on the Hornets at 4 p.m.
Both Laramie teams are 2-3 on the season after they split their action at the Cabela’s Holiday Shootout in Sidney, NE last weekend. They lost their first game but won their second game.
Lady Plainsmen head coach Rod Tyson says what they’ve focused on is getting sharper.
“Stop turning the ball over; protect the ball; protect the ball. Hopefully, we can slow down some other teams’ guards because that’s been killing us. I gotta get Kala (Vasquez) going from outside for her jumpers. She can make ‘em in practice. She’s missing them in the game. I need to get her to make a few of those. That will open things up.”
Plainsmen head coach Travis Brown said they’re happy to have more game action so soon. They’ve been focusing on a few areas.
“We’ve been working on a little bit of the press break. We’ve been getting back to just getting some chemistry. We’ve got some new guys and old guys rejoining the team, so just getting some chemistry with those guys. We’re excited, truthfully, we’re glad to finally be playing every week.”
Both coaches also mentioned how nice it will be to play at home, and both Tyson and Brown are hoping that helps their teams be ready to play.
Tonight is a rematch of games that Laramie played on Dec. 8. Both lost to the Wolves in their first meeting this season. The girls fell in Casper, 55-44. In that game, LHS trailed by 29 points, but cut it to 10 before they ran out of time.
Tyson says it’s hard to say what he took away from that game.
“It was two different teams that I had out there. The first team didn’t really play hard or box out or do anything well. The last two minutes of the third quarter and all the fourth quarter, we played great. If that team shows up, I think we’ll be in good shape. This will be a good test because it’s the same team that we’ve played. We can see if we’ve gotten better.”
The boys lost their first encounter versus Green River in Riverton on Dec. 8, 59-45.
Brown said what he learned from the first meeting is the Wolves are a gritty group.
“They give a lot of effort. They’re very patient. She (Coach Laurie Ivie) has ‘em well-disciplined. I think if we can out-effort them and stick to our strengths, offensive rebounding, and working the ball into Hudda (Herrera), and relocating and being prepared to shoot when he kicks it, I think we’ll see some success.”
The doubleheader will be broadcast live on KOWB (AM 1290). You can also listen through the KOWB mobile app or online. David Settle will call the games. Coverage will start at 5 p.m.