CHEYENNE – As they always do, the Cheyenne East girls turned defense into offense.
The Lady Thunderbirds turned steals into points early and often Friday night against Cheyenne Central. East carried a 16-4 lead after the first period to a 59-52 win over the Lady Indians at Storey Gym.
Central cut it to one point late in the contest, but couldn’t pull ahead.
“It’s a rivalry game and you just want to do well,” East coach Eric Westling said. “Credit to Central, they came back with intensity … It was a stressful game, but a fun one to watch a bunch of kids play their butts off.”
After senior Ashley Marshall got a pass from classmate Ruby Jacobsen and finished at the rim to start the scoring for East, senior Claire Fraley quickly responded for Central.
East took complete control of the first period following that exchange. Sophomore Boden Liljedahl hit a 3-pointer with just under 6 minutes remaining that sparked a 12-0 East run.
With 3 minutes, 38 seconds left in the quarter, Central called a timeout and came out of the timeout by going into a 2-3 zone defense. It didn’t hinder the T-Birds’ momentum as freshman Bradie Schlabs was quick to sink a 3-pointer, which sent the Indians back into man-to-man defense.
Schlabs got consecutive steals that led to consecutive buckets from senior Cheyenna Alvarado and East’s lead stood at 14-2 with a little under 2 minutes remaining before junior Brogan Allen stopped the 12-0 run with a bucket. East went into the second frame with a 16-4 lead.
“We were running our offense really well and creating shots for other people (in the first quarter),” said Liljedahl, who finished with 17 points. “We were getting great shots rather than just getting good shots.”
Central gradually chipped away at its deficit throughout the second quarter. Sophomore Madisyn Baillie converted a 3-point play with 5:52 remaining that cut East’s lead to 18-7. Baillie hit a 3-pointer nearly 3 minutes later and suddenly Central only trailed 26-21, and went into the break trailing 27-23.
“You just can’t dig yourself a hole against a really good team and that’s a really good team,” Central coach Glen Kirkbride said.
“We had to battle and that’s what we said at the end of the first quarter,’You can go out and battle or you can lay down and die’ and they came out and battled and I was really proud of them,” Kirkbride said.
The third frame started slow with only four combined points through the first 3:15 before Liljedahl sank a corner triple.
Baillie responded with a couple of buckets to keep Central in the contest on her way to a career-high 18 points.
“Just knowing that one of our starters (senior Kelsey Basart) is out, I knew I needed to push the ball, help with some scoring and just play,” Baillie said.
Central continued to chip away at the lead, and ultimately gave itself a chance to win. With 2:34 to play, senior Baylee Delbridge made a free throw, and East held a 47-46 advantage. Liljedahl again answered with a 3-pointer. The teams traded free throws down the stretch, but East made theirs count, holding off the Indians’ comeback.
“It’s about a win and it’s not about anything else,” Westling said.”However you can get a win, you get one and I was proud of our kids for getting one (Friday night) and hopefully that can carry into next week.”
EAST 59, CENTRAL 52
Cheyenne Central................................................ 4 19 10 19 – 52
Cheyenne East................................................... 16 11 14 18 – 59
Cheyenne Central: C. Fraley 6, Baillie 18, Cowley 1, Brant 6, Delbridge 9, Gerig 8, Allen 2, Kirkbride 2.
Cheyenne East: R. Jacobsen 4, E. Jacobsen 6, C. Alvarado 11, Liljedahl 17, A. Marshall 7, B. Schlabs 8, Jardine 2, Fonseca 2, Kaufman 2.
Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.
