It was more of a coronation than a run through a tournament for the Wyoming Indian Lady Chiefs. They rolled over Kemmerer in the semi-finals 50-20 then rocked Rocky Mountain 50-31 in what is believed to be their 26th Class 2-A West Regional Tournament. There have only been 27 tournaments since 1997.
Wyoming Indian head coach Aleta Moss is the winningest coach in Wyoming history with well over 600 victories in her tenure at Ethete.
This year’s team has all the pieces with quick guards, great shooting forwards, and post players who can dominate in the paint or drive down the lane off the dribble.
Kemmerer arrived in the championship game after a one-point upset over Wind River in semi-final action on Friday. The Lady Cougars gave Wyoming Indian a good game in their only meeting this year at Pavillion.
Kemmerer doesn’t often score a lot of points as was evidenced in the regular season in a 16-14 overtime loss at Shoshoni and in their 18-13 win over Greybull in opening-round tournament action on Thursday.
The Lady Rangers didn’t count on scoring just two points in the second period and just a single free throw in the third as the Lady Chiefs swarmed on defense and put the ball up in transition.
The Lady Grizzlies of Rocky Mountain had a little size advantage over Wyoming Indian but it didn’t matter after the opening period.
The Grizz trailed just 14-11 after one, 21-19 at the half, but the Lady Chiefs can wear a team down and they did in the second half, holding Rocky to just a dozen points and pulling away for the top-seed in this week’s state tournament in Casper.
Wyoming Indian opens with fourth-seeded Burns from the East 2-A at 6 pm at Swede Erickson Gym on the Casper College campus.
WYOMING INDIAN 13 10 15 12 – 50
KEMMERER 6 2 1 11 – 20
Wyoming Indian – Roberta Whiteplume 1 0-0 2, Deja Felter (2) 0-0 6, Taya Dixey 2 0-1 4, Elianna Duran 3 (1) 3-4 12, Dionne Ferris 2 (1) 2-3 9, Maggie Smith 2 (1) 1-2 8, Shye Killsontop 3 (1) 0-1 9. Totals 13 (6) 6-11 50
Kemmerer – Thatcher 2-2 2, Skidmore 2 7-12 9, Archibald 1 0-0 2, Thatcher 2 1-2 5. Totals 5 10-16 20
WYOMING INDIAN 14 7 13 16 – 50
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 11 8 8 4 – 31
Wyoming Indian – Michaela Hiwalker (1) 0-0 3, Roberta Whiteplume 1 0-0 2, Taya Dixey 5 (4) 0-0 22, Elianna Duran 6 2-7 14, Dionne Ferris 2-2 2, Maggie Smith 1 0-0 2, Shye Killsontop 1 1-2 3, Camellia Brown 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 (5) 5-11 50
Rocky Mountain – Cooley 1 1-2 3, Schoening (1) 0-0 3, Christiansen 2 0-0 4, Moss 2 0-2 4, Wambeke 3 1-4 7, Bassett 3 4-8 10. Totals 11 (1) 6-16 31
Burns 6pm CC