The Road to State
March 10, 2017
As basketball season comes to a close for the Lady T-Birds, emotions are running high as the seniors’ high school basketball careers come to a close and state is looming on the horizon. Looking back on the EHS girls’ 2016-17 season, and their 23-4 record, one can get a glimpse of just how much hard work and dedication it’s takes to be one of the best teams in the state.
The Lady T-Birds started the pre-season strong with an undefeated run at the Battle of the Rockies Tournament in Fort Collins, CO. East posted wins against Fort Collins, 40-26, and Poudre, 56-38, and then beat Rocky Mountain, 46- 27, for the championship. East also posted a win in the pre-season at the Windsor Winter Showcase, beating Windsor, CO, 57-46. The Taco John’s Invite helped to showcase the team’s ability with four straight wins, including a 57-47 win against Natrona and a 63-36 win over Evanston.
The Lady T-Birds used the momentum they’d gained in the pre-season to kick off the regular season with a 62-22 win over Scottsbluff, NE. The Lady T-Birds also steamrolled Central High in both of the teams’ regular season meetings, 60-26 and 49-23. The team stumbled in a close loss to Gillette in mid-February, 44-42. The girls secured the No. 2 seed at the 4A East Regional with a victory against Laramie, 58-37, to close the season.
While the Lady T-Birds can boast of an impressive season, the team fell short a few times. The Gillette Lady Camels have proven to be East biggest roadblock, they’ve beat East three time this year – in Gillette, 53-62, in the Thunderdome, 42-44, and then again at Regionals 74-53. Despite their setbacks against Gillette, the Lady T-Birds finished the season as the #2-ranked team in class 4A.
