Impressive Win for Lady Camels

 After experiencing the sour taste of defeat twice at the hands of Cheyenne East (20-4) in the regular season, the Gillette Lady Camels (18-5) exacted a bit of revenge and got that bitter taste out of the mouths as they ran away from the Lady T-Birds 73-47 in the 4A East Regional Semifinal at the Castle of Chaos.

East grabbed the first lead of the game 2-0 and then the Lady Camels went up 5-2 only to see the Lady T-Birds take a 6-5 lead, but that would be their last lead of the game. Sierra Toms muscled in a basket from the low post and was fouled and she made the free throw and that led to the Lady Camels having a 20-14 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Then they built up an early 10 point lead in the 2nd quarter only too see East cut the lead to 26-24, but then Gillette closed the half on an 18-6 run and they never looked back.

McCorra Ford led 10 different Lady Camels in the scoring column as she tied her career high of 20 points, including 2 long balls and she was perfect from the free throw line (6-6). Toms broke out of her scoring slump against East to finish with a playoff career high 17 points. Toms had scored a total of 15 points in the previous two meetings with East. Shelby Johnson chipped in 8 points, Steph Casteel had another solid offensive performance as she scored all 7 of her points in the 1st half. Dani Williams and Bridgit Cargal each had 6, Whitney George had 3 while Julia Seamans, Taylor Deaton and Haley Shackelford each had 2 points.

For East they were led by the Cheney sisters as Kayla and Leah each had 11 points. Sarah and Rachel Erickson were held to just 5 points each. Elissia Johnson finished with 9 points, Shayne Carter had 4 while Anna Reiner and McKenna Horsley each scored a point.

For the second straight game the Lady Camels won the turnover battle as the Lady T- Birds coughed it up 29 times compared the Gillette's 25. 

Now the Lady Camels will be looking for their first Regional Title since 2009 when they won it in Riverton. Gillette will tip off at 1pm on Saturday against Sheridan after they defeated Laramie. You can hear the game on 97.3 KAML FM and online at www.network1sports.com/station/kaml

For more on all of the playoff basketball happening across the state go to www.whsaa.org