The brooms were out for a sweep by the Class 2-A East girls with just Wyoming Indian standing in the way of opening round domination over the West. The Lady Chiefs faced the fourth-seeded Burns Lady Broncs and had an awakening in the second period before recovering late to hold off the Broncs 49-43.
The Lady Chiefs opened in firm control, but not by their usual offensive strategy of running the ball. Burns handled Wyoming Indian’s pressure well, committing only 14 turnovers on the game, a dozen of those on Lady Chief steals.
With the transition game slowed, head coach Aleta Moss called for the ball to go to the post and the girls responded with excellent spacing, leverage and point blank shots in the early minutes of the game.
It looked like Wyoming Indian was toying with the Lady Broncs but that all changed late in the first period and throughout the first half as Burns started to hit from the perimeter and Wyoming Indian couldn’t find the range.
Trailing 25-12, Burns rolled on a 10-0 run and continued to rally in the final two minutes of the second quarter to take a 29-27 lead into the half. The 17-2 run was the most put on the Lady Chiefs by a Wyoming team this season.
Burns took a 33-29 lead with 6:22 left in the third period, their largest of the game.
The Lady Chiefs came back to tie the game at 33 on a great assist by Taya Dixey to Roberta Whiteplume for a backside layup.
Over the next nine minutes of play the game was tied four times with three lead changes, the final time coming at 41-41 with 6:20 left in the contest.
Camillia Brown was the difference in the final period, scoring on a pair of put backs off offensive rebounds and adding a free throw as the Lady Chiefs slowly pulled away.
Dixey led the Lady Chiefs with 11 and Eliana Duran scored 10.
Wyoming Indian faces Lingle-Ft. Laramie in the Ford Wyoming Center Friday at 6 pm in semi-final action.
WYOMING INDIAN 19 8 12 10 -49
BURNS 12 17 10 4 – 43
Wyoming Indian – Michaela Hiwalker 1 0-0 2, Roberta Whiteplume 2 1-2 5, America Oldman 1 2-2 4, Deja Felter (1) 0-0 3, Taya Dixey 4 (1) 0-0 11, Elianna Duran 4 2-2 10, Shye Killsontop 2 3-3 7, Camilla Brown 3 1-2 7. Totals 17 (2) 9-11 49
Burns – Jordan Griess 2 (1) 2-4 9, Jose Barrett 1 1-2 3, Brooke Hansen 4 0-0 8, Sarai Eklund 2 (1) 0-0 7, Brooklyn Kopetzky 2 (2) 1-1 11, Savannah Kirkbride 1 (1) 0-0 5. Totals 12 (5) 4-7 43