Their mascot might be the Doggers, but the only dogs Lingle-Ft. Laramie resembled in an opening round runaway win over Shoshoni were greyhounds. They pushed the Lady Blue to the limit behind a relentless press that forced 34 Shoshoni turnovers behind 27 steals in a 50-29 win.
The Lady Blue moved into a Friday morning consolation game with Wyoming Indian at the Ford Wyoming Center at 10:30 am, with the loser packing the trunk for the year.
Lingle pressed well, but their half-court defense was equally impressive denying Shoshoni’s senior guards Sonja Post and Hailey Donelson open perimeter shots, and shutting off drives as well. Neither of the normally high scoring pair reached close to double-figures.
Leading 19-10, the Doggers were on cruise control, but Shoshoni regained their composure in the early portion of the second period, keeping the margin manageable in single digits, but Linger had other ideas as the opening half drew to a close.
Outstanding play off the dribble by Lingle’s Natalie Speckner were hard to defend and she fueled a late run that had the Doggers up 36-19 at the half.
The relatively high scoring game came to a halt in the third period with both squads picking up the intensity on the defensive end of the floor. Shoshoni scored just 10 second half points, but Lingle wasn’t much more impressive, with just 14.
The one bright spot for the Lady Blue came in junior post Tania St. Clair who battled inside, hitting three 2-point baskets and narrowly missing three more as she was jostled and outright hammered on post moves. She converted those fouled attempts into points hitting four-of-six from the line.
Lingle-Ft. Laramie 19 17 6 8 – 50
Shoshoni 10 9 4 6 – 29
Lingle-Ft. Laramie – Ashlee Hattan 1 (1) 2-2 7, Skyla Wunder 1 4-5 6, Baylee Skinner 1 0-0 2, Natalie Speckner 9 2-3 20, Holly Leiseth 2 0-0 4, Madison Saul 1 1-2 3, Kamryn Rafferty 1 (1) 0-0 5, Jordynn Speckner 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 (2) 10-16 50
Shoshoni – Jerikah Huelle 1 0-0 2, Brenna Metzler 1 0-0 2, Sonja Post 2 0-0 4, Abigail Jennings 2 0-0 4, Hailey Donelson 1 (1) 0-0 5, Madi Ramage 1 0-0 2, Tania St. Clair 3 4-6 10. Totals 11 (1) 4-6 29