Every year begins with the same call – “Let’s win State!” And every year, eight teams meet in Casper to battle their way to being named champion. The Lady Thunderbirds rolled into the state tournament on March 10-12 with high expectations and a clear call to win state.

On Thursday, March 10, at Casper College, The Lady Thunderbirds took on their first opponent, the Rock Springs Lady Tigers. Junior Cosette Stellern led the T-Birds with 15 points, while junior Sierra Stellern and junior Jadyn Kanzler both scored eight points. The Lady T-Birds played a solid game, taking a first quarter lead, 15- 11, going up 32-16 by halftime, and then building a third quarter lead of 49-21. The T-Birds then finished them off, 56-34.

“We all had a pretty good feeling at the beginning of state,” said junior Jadyn Kanzler. “Then we won our first game and we thought we would be able to pull it out for Gillette.”

On Friday, March 11, at the Casper Events Center, the Lady Thunderbirds prepared to take on the Campbell County Lady Camels in the semi-finals. Senior Ashton Horsley stepped up big with 12 points, junior starter Sierra Stellern dropped 18 points, and junior starter Katie Loken finished with 6 points. The Lady Thunderbirds started off strong, building a halftime lead, 23-20, but Gillette came out in the third quarter and cranked up the pressure, forcing EHS into 22 turnovers. The Lady T-Birds lost their steam, and dropped the game, 58-46.

“As a team we played pretty well, like at the Gillette game we were beating them, and so we thought we were doing pretty well, but we just let them back in,” said junior Jadyn Kanzler. “But the other games we played as a team and we played for the seniors.”

On Saturday, again at the Casper Events Center, the T-Birds faced the Sheridan Lady Broncs for third place. Against the team that knocked them out of the running for a regional title, East played one of their best games and shocked the Broncs, 71-57. Junior Katie Loken led the team with 24 points, while junior Sierra Stellern scored 13 points, and junior Jessie Erickson posted 12 points. The Lady T-Birds played to an early lead and stayed out front throughout the game. The Lady Thunderbirds were able to finish in third place at state.

“I don’t think we accomplished what we wanted to but we did better than expected,” said Jadyn. “We wanted to be in the championship game but Gillette is a hard team to beat. I think we did better than everyone else thought we would.”

The Lady Thunderbirds had three girls recognized for all-state honors – junior Katie Loken, junior Cosette Stellern, and junior Sierra Stellern.

The boys basketball team just missed state after losing in a long, hard battle against the South High Bison, 48-47 in overtime, in the EWAC regional tournament.

Cheyenne East senior Elijah Oliver earned Class 4A all-state honors for the third time. He also split 4A player of the year honors with Evanston senior Brock Ehlers. Elijah averaged a 4A-best 20.9 points per game to go with 6.1 rebounds.

Oliver was joined on the all-state squad by teammate Tyler Peeples, also a senior. Peeples led the state in assists (5.0) and steals (3.0) while averaging 10.2 points.

The Thunderbirds finished the season 12-10 and missed out on the state tournament.