LUSK – While the Lingle-Ft Laramie girls don’t usually have impressive talent, they make up for it in a tough, fundamental brand of hoops that has fared them well. Friday’s game had them coming off a loss to Southeast the night before while the Lady Tigers started a bit sluggish. 

Taylor Gaukel led off with a three pointer and had all eight of Lusk’s first period points, but L-FL held a three point edge. A flurry of Lady Dogger turnovers helped NCHS out to a 24-20 halftime lead, as Gaukel (8) and Mackenzie Lyons (6) carried the offensive load.

Lady Tiger turnovers briefly gave the advantage to the home team, before Kianna Blackburn and Courtney Rowley sank treys 40 seconds apart to take it back. The score became 36-28 as the third quarter expired, and was 13 at one point. As expected, L-FL fought back to make it a two-possession game with less than a minute to play. Clutch free throw shooting ensured that Lusk would get out with the 46-41 win.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NCHS 8 16 12 10  46

L-FL 11 9 8 13  41

TEAM STATS

NCHS 18/58 FG; 3/13 3PT; 7/20 FT; 40 REB; 19 PF; 17 TO

L-FL 12/35 FG; 1/8 3PT; 16/26 FT; 40 REB; 18 PF; 23 TO

NCHS PLAYER STATS: 

Scoring- Gaukel 20, Lyons 11, Blackburn 5, Rowley 4, Christianson 2, Sturman 2, Richardson 2. Rebounds- Gaukel 14, Lyons 9, Christianson 5. Assists- Christianson 5.

JV falls to Lady Doggers

The JV missed a few opportunities down the stretch and lost a close one at L-FL 40-37. Anna Richardson put in 20 points and Joz Potter added nine.

This week sees the Lady Tigers on the road to Glenrock Friday before heading to Southeast on Saturday. JV times are 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday, before varsity at 4:30 in Glenrock and 2:30 in Yoder.