NEWCASTLE – The Torrington High School girls’ basketball season came to a close Saturday one game shy of reaching this weekend’s state tournament in Casper.
In the opening round, the No. 2 seeded Lady Blazers lead 17-14 after a quarter over the Thermopolis Lady Bobcats en route to a 57-39 win.
Torrington started to pull away over the next two quarters.
In the second and third quarters, the Lady Blazers outscored Thermopolis, 23-6 to take a 40-20 lead into the locker room.
“We played really well and took care of what we had to do to move on,” THS coach Jeff Halley said. “I liked our offensive aggressiveness and our decision-making in this first game.”
Junior Avery Fox and sophomore Reece Halley had 12 points each, while senior Sam Hill added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The win advanced the Lady Blazers to the semifinal round against the WyoPreps.com No. 1-ranked Douglas Bearcats.
Torrington fell behind 16-2 early before falling 61-30 to Douglas.
“Despite the score, I really felt like we played well,” Jeff Halley said. “This is a much better effort that we put forth against this team. We played better defense, but just had some trouble scoring.”
The Lady Blazers shot 20% from the floor. Sophomore Mattie Jones led the Lady Blazers with seven points, while Halley and sophomore Sierra Allen added six each.
The loss dropped Torrington in to a must-win game against Southeast Quadrant foe Wheatland.
For the second straight game, the Lady Blazers struggled to find the bottom of the net, shooting only 24% in the 46-39 season-ending loss to the Lady Bulldogs.
“Once again, our trouble scoring doomed us,” Jeff Halley said.
Torrington took the lead in the third quarter, but the Lady Blazer offense went cold for a seven-minute stretch.
“We did a good job defensively, but they hit a couple big shots and we just couldn’t answer,” Jeff Halley said.
Toss in foul trouble with senior Dani Masterson and Fox fouling out while Reece Halley, seniors Sam Hill and Chloe Krick had four each, it made any type of comeback attempt difficult.
“Every time we made a little run, a tough call would set us back,” Jeff Halley said. “We needed to be our best against a good Wheatland team, and we just couldn’t quite get there.”
Reece Halley led the Lady Blazers with 12 points, while Fox added seven points. Sophomore A.J. West and Jones tossed in six each.
The Lady Blazers end the season with a 12-10 record.
“This group of young ladies had a good season and improved so much along the way,” Jeff Halley said. “It just ended a week too soon.”
