3A EAST CHAMPS

GLENROCK – Worland girls basketball coach Mark Mortimer and the Lady Warriors had one goal entering the weekend: Win two games at the 3A East Regional Girls Basketball Tournament to secure a spot in the state tournament.

After accomplishing that goal with wins over Glenrock and Douglas in consecutive days, they added another – win a regional championship.

They accomplished that one as well and exacted some revenge in the process, too.

Worland (22-1 overall) defeated Newcastle (19-4) 50-41 in the 3A East title game in the first meeting between the two teams since the Lady Warriors had their perfect season ended by the Lady Dogies back on Feb. 13.

"(Winning the regional tournament) wasn't one of our goals, but once we won that second game it became one very quick. The kids were excited. They wanted to get it for our school and our community and they worked hard and got it done," Mortimer said. "The kids wanted to play Newcastle. They wanted another shot at them after that tough home loss that we had.

"The kids knew what we had to do and were excited to have another chance to play Newcastle."

With the way Worland and Newcastle battled in the first quarter, it looked like it would be a wire-to-wire game – the kind of championship game everyone wants to see.

Newcastle led Worland 10-8 after the first quarter, but the second quarter it was the Lady Warriors who would take control.

They outscored the Lady Dogies 14-2 in the second frame, holding them to a single field goal as Worland surged ahead to take a 22-12 lead into the locker room for halftime.

After keeping the lead in the double digits for most of the second half, Newcastle made a late run to make the game more interesting down the stretch – cutting the deficit to as little as three points in the final minutes.

Worland never faltered, keeping its composure and holding off Newcastle's late run to capture the 3A East crown.

"Newcastle is such a strong team and they showed that in the fourth quarter," Mortimer said. "But with us holding them to just two points in that second quarter, we were able to go into the locker room with a lot of confidence."

Haley Schneider led the team in scoring one again, finishing with 19 points while Bailey Gibbons had nine and Lyndzi Rich added eight.

The win also secured Worland the No. 1 seed from the 3A East in the state tournament which begins this Thursday in Casper where it will face Lovell in the first round.

"There are eight great teams and I think it does benefit us just a little bit (having the No. 1 seed) just on matchups. I think we have the size advantage in the first game we play, but after that it's anyone's tournament," Mortimer said. "There are some quality teams in there along with us and it's going to be a tough road ahead."