Gillette Takes Advantage of Turnovers in Beating Laramie

Early turnovers spelled disaster, as both Laramie High School basketball teams lost their conference opener to Gillette Friday night.

Top-ranked Gillette beat third-ranked Laramie in the girl’s game, 66-51. That came after the No. 2 Camels beat the Plainsmen 60-42.

Laramie Lady Plainsmen

An early deficit was too much to overcome for the Lady Plainsmen. They had ten turnovers in the first quarter and 19 in the first half of the 15-point loss.

Laramie head coach Laura Pollard said composure was an issue early.

“I think the first half might have been a little jittery. However, it was hard to tell because we were still executing. We went over the press breaker all week, and we just didn’t do that. When we did break it, we couldn’t hit those shots. I think if the first half had been a little better, it would’ve been a little closer.”

Gillette (11-2, 1-0) led from start to finish. The Camels capitalized on Laramie’s turnover woes and built a 21-11 lead after the first quarter. An 11-0 run by Gillette helped them to a 32-11 advantage. Laramie managed to get back within in 10 points, but it’s as close as they got.

The Camels led 41-27 lead at halftime. The Lady Plainsmen trailed by 11 and had a chance to cut it to 9, but missed a driving scoop shot. Gillette came back with four points on one possession and resumed control.

Laramie (9-3, 0-1) was led by Jennifer Aadland and Olivia Dorrell. They scored nine points apiece. Bridgette Johnson added eight points. LHS shot 33 percent from the field and finished with 27 turnovers.

Gillette had three players in double figures led by Kalina Smith with 17 points. The Camels shot 43 percent and enjoyed a 41-29 rebounding edge.

The Lady Plainsmen will try to bounce back against Sheridan today at 11:30 a.m. The Broncs (5-7, 1-0) won their conference debut at Cheyenne South Friday night, 67-54.

Laramie Plainsmen

Laramie committed 12 first quarter turnovers and couldn’t recover in an 18-point loss to the Camels.

LHS head coach Travis Brown was proud of his team’s competitiveness.

“Turnovers is going to plague a young team that’s still developing guards. It showed at times, we just got a little flustered. Gillette plays an up-tempo, and we got sucked into that a couple of times, which created some dumb turnovers. I was still really proud of the kids; they competed.”

Gillette (7-6, 1-0) took advantage of the early mistakes by the Plainsmen and led 16-8 after the first quarter. The Camels lead grew to 26-9 in the second before a small 7-0 spurt by Laramie. That trimmed it to 10, at 26-16, but Gillette regrouped for a 31-18 halftime lead.

The teams played even in the third quarter before the Camels pulled away in the fourth for an 18-point win.

Gillette was led by Trey Hladky with 15 points. They shot 43 percent from the field.

Laramie (3-9, 0-1) was led by Hudda Herrera with 10 points. The Plainsmen shot 38 percent from the floor. LHS had a 39-24 advantage in rebounding, but committed 28 turnovers.

Laramie seeks its first conference victory versus Sheridan at 1 p.m. today. The Broncs (5-7, 1-0) knocked off No. 4 Cheyenne South last night, 49-39, in Cheyenne.

KOWB will provide live coverage of the doubleheader between Laramie and Sheridan. David Settle and VerDon Hoopes will call the action. Coverage will start at 10:45 a.m.