No matter how it ends, the rivalry is always one of the best in the state. The biannual East-Central games are knock-down, drag-out fights, and a conference title is often on the line. Anger and cries of disappointment rear their ugly heads as often as cheers and screams of victory, and the 2015 edition did not disappoint.

When the Central Indians and the East High Thunderbirds first squared off in January, the girls and boys teams split games, with the Lady T-Birds escaping with a close win and the East boys taking a disappointing loss. The February results looked a little different.

This past Friday, February 20, both T-Bird teams came out on top, as the girls dominated Central, 54-37, and the boys fought to a 41-39 overtime victory.

The Lady T-Birds focused on their weaknesses in the January 23 game and planned to take advantage of some match-up issues they identified on film.

“When I watched film from the first game, I thought our weak side was going to be open,” East coach Rusty Horsley said in an interview with wyosports.net. “I thought our guards did a good job of taking advantage of that and our bigs did a good job of finding them.” Posts Justene Hirsig and Cosette Stellern paced the Lady Thunderbirds with 12 points apiece.

As of Saturday, February 21, the girls are ranked 3rd in the state with a record of 16-4.

Winning was a trend when the boys beat Central, 41-39, in overtime. Both squads struggled to score as neither team could get into a rhythm, missing too many lay-ups and close shots. Attack after attack left the teams exhausted and struggling to get out of single digits.  Central would seem to take control, only to see the T-Birds surge and take control.

East had several free throws in the final minutes of regulation to win, but they couldn’t string enough together to put the Indians away. Of course, the game wasn’t without a few highlights, including a steal and a dunk from East junior Elijah Oliver.

“The play where I got the steal was something Central had run quite a bit when we played them before,” said Oliver in an interview with wyosports.net. “They had a lot of success with it, so we focused a lot on that during practice this week. I read it and knew where my guy was going and where the pass was going, so I took a chance and made a play.”

Oliver’s two-handed dunk put East up 38-36, but Central answered with a three for a 39-38 lead. Oliver then cemented the East win with a lay-up down the left side for a 40-39 lead. In the final seconds, East’s Rhett Sanders hit the second of two free throws to put the T-Birds up 41-39, and Central committed a turnover on its final possession with 1.8 seconds to play, giving the T-Birds the victory.

The boys are ranked 4th in the state with a record of 12-6.

Both teams next head to Sheridan for the Regional tournament.