The Lingle-Fort Laramie Doggers will head out on the road to challenge the Burns Broncs at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Lingle-Fort Laramie is coming into the contest hot, having won their last ten games.
Lingle-Fort Laramie stacked a ninth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Saturday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Guernsey-Sunrise 49-21 at home. Given Lingle-Fort Laramie's advantage in MaxPreps' Wyoming basketball rankings (they are ranked 17th, while Guernsey-Sunrise is ranked 62nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jordynn Speckner and Natalie Speckner were among the main playmakers for Lingle-Fort Laramie as the former almost dropped a double-double on nine points and nine steals and the latter almost dropped a double-double on 14 points and nine rebounds. Speckner has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last seven times she's played. Madison Hatch was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Meanwhile, Burns was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Saturday as they fell 37-31 to Pine Bluffs.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Jordan Griess, who scored eight points along with three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Brooke Hansen, who scored eight points.
Lingle-Fort Laramie has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 13 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-4 record this season. As for Burns, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-12.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Lingle-Fort Laramie have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Burns struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Lingle-Fort Laramie's way against Burns in their previous meeting back in January as Lingle-Fort Laramie made off with a 59-36 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lingle-Fort Laramie since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.