Casper's Lady Thunderbirds soar to victory despite spirited Lady Lancer comeback
by Jamie Lambert
Coach Tim Larsen and his Lady Lancer's hosted the Casper Lady Thunderbirds, where the Lady Lancers fell to an 82 – 66 defeat, but not with a feint hearted effort. Casper's Lady Thunderbirds have been a force to be reckoned with this season, but the Lady Lancers came to the game showing fight and reason to believe that they too were going to be a force to be reckoned with in this game. The game would propose an enticing matchup between Thunderbirds 1, Andi Schissler, and Lady Lancer favourite number 0, Leamsi Acuna.
Coach Larsen stuck to his guns and produced an unchanged starting line-up for the Lancers, with numbers 3 (Tawny Rodriguez), 10 (Luna Moreno) and 11 (Lucy Devoy) all remaining injured.
1st Quarter: Thunderbirds 29 – 9 Lancers
The Lancers were slow out of the blocks falling behind early to the Thunderbirds, which included an incredible shooting display from the Lady Thunderbirds, having only missed 2 shots in the first quarter. This was also accompanied by many turnovers for the Lady Lancers and by the end of the first quarter, there was a sense around the Verl Petsch JR Activities Centre that the lead was one that might be too far to claw back, even after the first quarter.
2nd Quarter: Thunderbirds 49 – 25 Lancers
From the start of the second, a new energy was apparent coming from the Lancer camp. This revitalised side began stringing plays together showing a great display of ball movement and teamwork to string 16 points together. Despite this the Thunderbirds didn't let up, continuing their impressive shooting and being able to stretch out their lead slightly further. However, the second quarter produced a lot more end to end action, in many scenarios energising the Lancer bench and bleachers, hoping for a charge would ensue.
3rd Quarter: Thunderbirds 67 – 50 Lancers
An impressive 3rd Quarter from the Lady Lancers caught a complacent looking Thunderbirds off guard. With Lancers frequently hitting the Thunderbirds from beyond the arch and rapidly deteriorating the Thunderbird lead. A charge which was spearheaded by Lancer Leamsi Acuna, with valent efforts being put in by Nikolina Vukcevic and a fantastic defensive effort from sophomore, Ali Tripp, who in total registered 7 total rebounds, 5 of which being defensive, along with 2 steals. There was an outstanding belief in the team which continuously forced errors and showed a desirable amount of determination to not take a defeat lying down.
Final Score: Thunderbirds 82 – 66 Lancers
In a quarter that was do or die for the Lady Lancers, a vigorous battle ensued with some very entertaining end to end basketball and the continuation of scoring a lot of points. Unfortunately for the Lady Lancers, it came slightly too late to mount a successful comeback. The likes of Lady Thunderbird number 1, Andi Schissler, who recorded a stunning 30 points and 4 assists, as well as a remarkable defensive performance which saw 7 total rebounds (2 offensive, 5 defensive) alongside 2 steals, demonstrated a very well organised and executed game plan for Casper's Thunderbirds. Other Thunderbirds that had noticeable impacts are number 2, Saiao San Francisco, who remained a thorn in the side of Lancer defence when she recorded 10 points along with 5 assists. Thunderbird Freshman coming out of Tokyo, Japan, 23 Luna Uea, showed the spectators a fine display of finishing.
Final Thoughts:
The Lady Lancers although falling to defeat at the hands of the Lady Thunderbirds, can take pride in the comeback that they mounted, and take confidence that they can compete amongst the best teams in the conference. The effort on show was received tremendously by the crowd in attendance, and is clearly a sign of things to come from a Lady Lancer side who show more connection and promise the more they play.
The Lady Lancers will be hoping to use the confidence generated from this defeat to take the game away from Western Wyoming Community College.