TORRINGTON – After the Southeast Lady Cyclones and Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers both put up 11 points in the first frame, Southeast continually added distance in a 36-27 win Thursday at Eastern Wyoming College.

“I think that Lingle came out really good,” Southeast junior Ellie Schmitt said. “They came out really good and they had nothing to lose. They had a good game plan against us.”

Late in the first quarter, L-FL trailed 11-7, but an uncommon four-point play by Ashley Riley knotted the score at 11 after the first eight minutes of action. In the second quarter, Southeast outscored L-FL 9-5 to head into halftime up 20-16. The Lady Cyclones scored nine points in the third quarter and seven points in the fourth, while limiting the Lady Doggers to six in the third and five in the fourth to seal the win. L-FL cut the lead to six points with just over a minute to go, but Southeast cruised to the nine-point win.

“It was just one point at a time,” Schmitt said. “It was one point ahead of them that would give us the win and that was our game plan.”

Kaci Schmick was the top scorer for the Lady Cyclones with 13 points on the night, followed by Ellie Schmitt, who turned in eight. Schmitt packed her stat line with two assists and five steals, both of which were team-highs.

Hailey Anderson was big on the boards, coming up with 18 rebounds, including five off the offensive glass. Morgan Ekwall was second on the team with five rebounds. She also matched the team lead with two assists.

Riley paced the Lady Doggers with 13 points, while filling out her stat line with six rebounds, two assists and a team-high five steals.

Jade Cooper was second in scoring for L-FL with six points on 2-of-2 shooting from behind the arc. She tied for the team lead with seven rebounds and three assists, recording two steals in the loss. Kelcie Sargent and Kaelyn Riley rounded out the scoring, notching four points apiece. The two combined for three rebounds and four steals.

Shelby Heilbrun racked up seven rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Savannah Mirich chipped in another board.

Pine Bluffs 42, Southeast 29

The Lady Cyclones hit the road Friday against No. 5 Pine Bluffs and got out to a slow start. The Lady Hornets outscored Southeast 13-4 in the first quarter. By halftime, Pine Bluffs was ahead 25-9.

Southeast made a comeback attempt starting in the third quarter, where the Lady Cyclones outscored the Lady Hornets 15-7 to bring the score to 32-24 with a quarter to go. Pine Bluffs outscored Southeast 10-5 in the final quarter to seal the 42-29 win.

Schmitt, Anderson and Kylie Carson all had seven points apiece in the loss to pace Southeast in scoring. Schmitt also topped the stat sheet with eight rebounds, including four on offense, and three assists. Anderson notched five steals to lead the Lady Cyclones. Ekwall tallied five rebounds and two steals in the loss.

The Lady Cyclones now have a 9-8 record on the year, with a 2-2 conference record, putting them third in the standings behind Pine Bluffs (13-4, 5-0) and Lusk (15-2, 4-1). Southeast returns to the floor Friday in a home game against Lusk starting at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Lady Cyclones hit the road to take on Burns at 2:30 p.m.

“We hope this is a start to go back up,” Schmitt said after Thursday’s SEWAC win as the Lady Cyclones are entering their second time through the conference schedule. “We are going to take away whatever we had last time from every other team and go back up.”

Lusk 75, L-FL 40

The Lady Doggers hosted Lusk on Friday after their loss to Southeast on Thursday. In the first quarter against the Lady Tigers, L-FL came out slow and got outscored 20-5. The Lady Doggers rebounded in the second to cut away at the lead, outscoring Lusk 18-16 to head into halftime down 36-23.

Lusk again came out strong after the break, putting up 17 points, while limiting L-FL to seven points. The Lady Doggers were outscored 22-10 in the final eight minutes of action, giving the Lady Tigers the wide margin of victory.

Ashley Riley stepped up in the scoring column, tallying 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting. She went to the free-throw line for 13 attempts, knocking down 11 of them. Rounding out her stat line, Riley notched two rebounds and team-highs in assists, with three, and steals, with four.

Cooper added six points for the Lady Doggers, along with two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Mirich accounted for four points and led the team with 10 rebounds, along with two assists. Kaelyn Riley matched Mirich’s scoring with four points, which she paired with four rebounds, an assist and two steals.

Sargent and Avy Emerson recorded two points apiece. Emerson had three rebounds, while Sargent added one of her own. Heilbrun and Jessy White combined for three rebounds.

The back-to-back losses drop the Lady Doggers to 5-11 on the year. They return to action Friday, hosting Kaycee at 4:30 p.m. L-FL also hits the road Saturday against Glenrock with a 4 p.m. tipoff.