LINGLE – The Lingle-Fort Laramie girls basketball team used a 20-2 run in the third period to open a 28-point lead and cruised to a 67-38 win over the Pine Bluffs Lady Hornets Saturday on Senior night in Lingle. 

Saturday’s victory came one night after the Doggers went on the road and defeated Burns 67-45.

The Doggers ended the regular season 18-4 overall and 9-0 at home. Lingle-Fort Laramie enters regional basketball play this weekend as the No. 1 seed from the south and will play Wright at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Burns.  

“Great weekend for the Lady Doggers,” coach Susan Bartel said. “Solid win against Burns on Friday night. Skyla Wunder was on fire with her three-pointers, making five.” 

"Game against Pine (Bluffs) at home on Saturday was senior night,” she added. “Senior Natalie Speckner scored 24 points to finish out her home game career for Lingle. Senior Holly Leiseth played the best game of her life. The program will miss them next year. The Lady Doggers head in to regionals a well-deserved No. 1 seed from the Southeast.”

On Saturday, the Lady Hornets got off to a quick start, taking a 6-2 advantage following an Avery Sweeter bucket with 4:17 remaining in the first. After cutting the deficit to 6-5 after a Brenly Shipp free-throw, Pine Bluffs extended back to a four-point lead on a Makenna Thurin three-pointer, but the Doggers battled back. 

Senior Natalie Speckner tallied her first bucket of the night to cut the deficit to 9-7 and a steal and layup by sophomore Jordynn Speckner knotted the game at 9-9 with 55 seconds remaining in the first. Sweeter ended the Doggers’ run with a bucket, but Lingle-Fort Laramie ended the period with back-to-back buckets from Natalie Speckner to grab a 13-11 lead. 

Natalie Speckner scored eight of the first 10 points of the second period to give Lingle-Fort Laramie an 18-13 lead and the Doggers never looked back.

The Doggers eventually took a 31-21 lead into intermission. 

Sophomore Skyla Wunder tallied nine points in the Doggers’ third-quarter run, while Jordynn Specker added six as Lingle-Fort Laramie stepped up the defensive pressure and outscored Pine Bluffs 20-5 in the period. 

Natalie Speckner poured in a game-high 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. The senior added eight steals, five rebounds and three assists. Wunder finished with 16 points to go with four steals and four rebounds, while Jordynn Specker added 10 points, six steals, four assists and four rebounds. Shipp ended with five points and senior Holly Leiseth added six steals, five rebounds, two assists and two points. 

On Friday, Wunder hit 5-of-7 attempts from three-points range to tally a game-high 22 points as the Doggers cruised past Burns. Wunder ended 6-of-13 from the field overall and added six steals and four rebounds. 

Lingle-Fort Laramie went 9-of-15 from long distance as a team. 

Natalie Speckner chipped in 17 points, including 3-of-4 from long range, in the victory to go along with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. Leiseth chipped in eight points and four boards, while Shipp had five points and five rebounds and freshman Afton Schilreff had four points. Jordynn Speckner ended with four points, seven rebounds and five steals.