Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

DOUGLAS - A strong bounce-back performance, after losing the semifinal round the previous day, earned the Worland Lady Warriors their fourth consecutive trip to the 3A State tournament and third place at the 3A East regional tournament in Douglas, Saturday.

Having lost to the Buffalo Lady Bison on Friday, the Lady Warriors faced a win-or-go-home game against the Newcastle Lady Dogies Saturday morning at Douglas High School. Not only did Worland win but they did so convincingly, downing the Dogies 50-34.

With their state tournament ticket punched, the Lady Warriors faced Rawlins in the third-place game and walked away the victor by the score of 49-36.

"We got off to a great start. It really comes down to when we hit shots we can be pretty competitive when we haven't we've struggled. Jaycee [Page] and Kate [Wassum] hit shots for us in the first quarter and that really set the tone," said WHS girls basketball coach Ben Hofmann about the team's win over Newcastle.

Added senior Jaycee Page, "We were ready and we knew it was probably going to be difficult with it being an early game, but we knew what we had to get done and we played as a team and took care of business."

The Lady Warriors played one of their more impressive quarters of basketball in their victory over Newcastle. In the first quarter, their stingy defense held the Lady Dogies to zero points and their offense rolled, putting 17 points on the board for the quarter. Going into halftime the Lady Warriors held a 30-10 lead.

To their credit, the Lady Dogies did not go quietly. In the third quarter, they outscored Worland 15-5 to make it a 10-point game at 35-25.

"It's hard when you're up 20 after the first half and you know their goal is to come out and cut it in half and they were able to do that. I was a little disappointed in our defensive and rebounding effort, we didn't do those things as well as we did in the first half. We also didn't finish either, we really wanted to pound the ball inside to burn clock and get our post going. We didn't finish and turned it over a few times too," said Hofmann.

Page got the Lady Warriors going again in the fourth, scoring the quarter's first four points and keeping the Lady Dogies at arms distance. Yet, late in the fourth Newcastle made one final desperation push and cutting the lead to 11 with under three minutes to play.

At the 2:11 mark sophomore guard Kate Wassum drained a timely 3-pointer, something that's becoming a part of her skill-set, that slammed the door shut on Newcastle's comeback attempt.

"I thought Kate hit a big three in the fourth that was really a dagger. The third quarter was down for us but it's really hard to sustain that level of energy for four quarters, especially at 8:30 in the morning," said Hofmann.

This will be the Lady Warriors fifth straight season qualifying for the state tournament, the longest streak in program history.

"It feels really good. I think I'm a bigger part of it this year than I was last year. It feels like I'm contributing more and it's nice to keep going to state and set the bar high for the younger girls, and it's something they can reach for next year," said Page.

Added senior guard Casey Wassum, "This is my fourth year going to state and it would have been sad if we didn't make it this year. It's kind of the tradition of Worland always makes it to state and to be one of the top eight teams in the state. It's exciting and I'm excited what we're going to be able to do next week."

Having their spot in the state tournament locked up and their next game deciding which seed they will be. Some coaches might use the third-place game as an opportunity to plot their state tournament path. Hofmann's only concern was winning, "There will be a ball, there will be two hoops, a court and we're playing to win," he said.

Behind Jones' 18 points vs. Rawlins, the Lady Warriors closed out the 3A East tournament in third-place and head into the state tournament with positive momentum.

Over the three-day tournament, senior forward Saige Jones played a significant role in the Lady Warriors going 3-1, as she scored a combined 53 points in four games.

"In a couple of our games we had the size advantage and we wanted to get the ball down low to her and McKenna [Butte]. Those two do a good job of passing post to post. Getting the ball inside hopefully puts the pressure on the other team then we can kick it out for some open looks from three," said Hofmann about Jones' performance at regionals and the focus to get the ball inside.

Being a part of a senior class that continued to strengthen the Lady Warrior basketball tradition, and doing her part to get the team to their fifth straight state tourney appearance, is a point of pride for Jones during her WHS basketball career.

"It means a lot to be a part of a legacy like this and all the amazing teammates we have had and the coaches that got us there," she said.

Worland heads into the state tournament as the No. 3-seed from the East. They face the Powell Lady Panthers, the No. 2-seed out of the West, in the quarterfinals. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams, the Lady Panthers have won twice but the Lady Warriors won the most recent contest 32-28.

"This weekend was a great atmosphere to get them ready for state basketball. We'll continue to work on the things we need to improve on and let the situation take care of itself," said Hofmann.

The other two teams on the same side with Worland are No. 1-East seed Douglas and No. 4 West-seed Cody.

Jones, Page and Wassum have plenty of experience playing in the state tournament and title game. As the leaders of the Lady Warriors, they plan to share their experience with their teammates playing in their first state tourney.

"My sophomore year when we won it was really exciting because I was the youngest one experiencing that with the seniors. Then last year I was one of the main players in the state championship game. I'm really happy to share my experience with everyone else because they haven't played in a state championship game or state tournament and I'm excited to lead them," said Wassum.

Added Jones, "It's a lot of fun to make it to state and making the state championship is not impossible. We can do it, it's about having that mentality of winning two games and we're in the championship, a third win and we're the state champions."