Team effort helps East girls top Thunder Basin
Mar. 7—CHEYENNE — Boden Liljedahl — Cheyenne East's leading scorer — was whistled for her second foul a mere 1 minute, 40 seconds into the Class 4A East Regional championship.
She spent much of the first half on the bench as a result. To make matters worse, senior guard Cheyenna Alvarado also picked up her second foul midway through the second quarter.
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Such absences would hamstring most basketball teams. The Lady Thunderbirds never skipped a beat.
East used a 12-0 second quarter run to take the lead and spent the rest of the contest countering every run Thunder Basin threw its way for a 73-64 victory Saturday afternoon at Storey Gym.
"We always talk about staying positive and lifting each other up," senior guard Emma Jacobsen said. "Two of our best players were in foul trouble, so we all had to step it up and help us get going.
"We were mostly able to relax, slow down and reverse the ball which helped us find better shots."
The T-Birds (17-2) will be the East Region's No. 1 seed at the 4A state tournament. They face West No. 4 Star Valley in the first round at 9 a.m. Friday at the Wyoming Center.
The Bolts have spent most of this season ranked No. 1 in the WyoPreps.com coaches and media poll. East has been ranked second much of the year. The game was shaping up to be a battle of 4A's heavyweights early.
When T-Birds senior guard Ruby Jacobsen hit a 3-pointer for a 27-25 lead with 3 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter, it was the sixth time the lead changed hands. The score also was tied four other times.
East never relinquished the lead after that. Jacobsen's trey was the start of a 12-0 run that put East up 36-25. The T-Birds forced turnovers in the backcourt on three consecutive possessions and converted those steals into layups.
"We played with intensity, didn't back down and kept our foot on the gas," Jacobsen added. "We were able to work as a team to get steals, layups and run the floor. That intensity really helped us win this game."
Emma Jacobsen scored 14 of her team-best 15 during the first half. She also had six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ruby Jacobsen finished with 14 points, 10 of which came in the opening 16 minutes.
East led by as much as 16 points late in the third quarter, but Thunder Basin refused to go away quietly.
The Bolts outscored East 14-2 during a span of 4:55 across the third and fourth quarters to cut East's lead to 56-52. Thunder Basin went 8 for 10 from the free-throw line during that stretch.
Sophomore Elysiana Fonseca stemmed that run with a mid-range jump shot off an assist from Emma Jacobsen. Fonseca added another bucket off an assist from Alvarado. Fonseca was fouled on the play, and made the ensuing free throw to put East back up 61-53 midway through the fourth.
Fonseca added another assisted basket a few possessions later to give the T-Birds a 63-53 lead. Thunder Basin never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
"We tell every kid that suits up for varsity they're not freshmen or sophomores, they're varsity players and they're important to us," Westling said. "They really showed that. I was really proud of every kid that stepped on the floor for us.
"... You don't ever beat a team like Thunder Basin if you can't counter. We told the kids they had to keep counter-punching and answering their runs. The kids showed a lot of want-to (Saturday)."
East finished with 16 steals as a team. It got 26 points off the bench, including nine from both Fonseca and sophomore guard Bradie Schlabs. Schlabs also nabbed five steals and dished out four assists. Fonseca snared five rebounds.
Liljedahl scored all 13 of her points in the second half.
EAST 73, THUNDER BASIN 64
Cheyenne East...... 17 22 15 19 — 73
Thunder Basin...... 13 19 14 18 — 64
Cheyenne East: R. Jacobsen 14, B. Schlabs 9, E. Jacobsen 15, C. Alvarado 5, Kaufman 5, Jardine 0, Fonseca 9, Liljedahl 13, A. Marshall 0, Walsh 3.
Thunder Basin: Deimling 0, Hamlin 2, Larson 4, K. Solem 4, Hladky 5, McCarty 8, Drube 9, S. Solem 10, Conklin 6, Pilon 1, Spelts 15.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.
