A GAME FOR THE AGES

CASPER – On Saturday, the Lady Warriors found themselves right where they expected to be – playing for a state championship.

And as they might have also expected, it would take the most hard-fought 32 minutes of their season as they faced Star Valley to decide who would take hold of the 3A girls basketball crown.

Worland (25-1 overall) trailed by two points at halftime and four heading into the fourth quarter, but came alive in the final eight minutes as it outscored Star Valley (18-5) 20-7 in the final frame to win 44-35 deliver the Worland its first girls basketball state championship in school history.

“I can’t even express how I feel right now, this is so awesome – especially for these kids,” Worland girls basketball coach Mark Mortimer said after the win Saturday. ““We talked about it before we hit regionals and state – our leaders have to coach out on the floor. It was crazy out here. The fans are yelling, it’s loud and they can’t hear me from across the floor.

“It’s on the kids. They pulled it through. They did a tremendous job communicating and just getting it done.”

Worland scored the first two baskets of the game right out of the gates and led 4-0 early in the first quarter which proved to be the biggest lead for either team in the first half. Star Valley showed it wasn’t intimated by answering back with four quick points of its own to tie it up – setting the tone for the rest of the game.

The first half was a back and forth affair that saw five separate ties and lead changes as the two sides were knotted up at 10-10 after the first quarter. Star Valley gained a slight edge in the second quarter, outscoring Worland 8-6 to take an 18-16 lead into the halftime break.

Worland – which got to the charity stripe 16 times per game during the regular season – didn’t attempt a single free throw in the first half.

And though they were down, Mortimer had all the confidence in his team.

“With the group of seniors that I have … I knew at halftime we were going to win and they were going to take care of business,” Mortimer said.

Schneider – who only had six points in the first half –added: “We went into the locker room after the first half and we knew we weren’t getting the calls we wanted. We were 0 for 7 from the 3-point line so that wasn’t working for us either. We just knew we had to push through and keep driving to the basket, hoping to get those calls.”

That’s exactly what the Lady Warriors did and just like Schneider predicted, the calls finally started to come.

With her team trailing 30-29 early in the fourth quarter, Schneider drove to the basket through contact just as she had done all game long. She finished the layup, drew the foul and hit the free throw to put her team ahead 32-30 with 5 minutes and 49 seconds remaining.

“Once Haley made that three-point play, that finally put us over the hump. Star Valley’s heads went down a little bit and we never looked back,” Mortimer said.

As the game wore on, the Lady Warriors clung to their lead as Star Valley tried desperately to get itself back into game all the way until the final minute.

Leading by only one point and trying to run clock, Carly King caught the ball and was trapped in the corner in front of the Worland bench. She quickly reacted, beating her defender and driving baseline toward the basket – finishing with a layup in traffic to give her team a 38-35 lead with 58.7 seconds remaining.

Star Valley’s attempt at a comeback came up short from there and it was forced to foul, putting Worland at the free throw line to ice the game as the Lady Warriors held on for the 44-35 win.

Schneider had 14 points in the second half to lead all scorers with 20 while Lyndzi Rich followed with six, King had five, Bailey Gibbons had four, Aubrey Goodrick had three and Casey Wassum, Bryanna Mickelson and Charlee Townsend all had two apiece.

Defensively, King also did what few have been able to do all season – keep Star Valley’s Savannah Lucero in check. The night before, the junior scored 29 points to lead Star Valley past Newcastle in the semifinals.

On Saturday, King held Lucero to only nine points on 2 of 13 shooting.

The Lady Warriors knew it would take their best effort and that’s exactly what they gave.

Now, they can call themselves champions.

Something no other team in Worland’s history can do.

“It’s fun to know that whenever I come back to the school, there will be a banner up there in the gym with a ’16 on it and I’ll know that was us,” Schneider said. “We were the first team to ever win a state title for our town.”