The Lyman Lady Eagles closed out a successful basketball season by bringing home “our fourth state trophy in four years, and our fourth 20-win-season in a row.” head coach Jason Hansen said Monday morning, after the team finished in fourth place.

“I was proud of the girls and all they accomplished this season. We had 24 wins with only three losses. … Seniors Chesney Walker and Cedar Eyre have been a part of those great seasons and all of those accomplishments,” Hansen said. “We go in every year wanting to win the state championship and we are disappointed when we don¹t win it all, but I felt that we had a great season and we had a lot of great accomplishments.”

The Lyman Lady Eagles, No. 3 from the West, faced the Buffalo Lady Bison, No. 2 from the East, in their opening game of the tournament on Thursday, March 8, of last week. Buffalo took the game by 5, 58-53. 

The Lady Eagles jumped out in the lead in the first quarter over the Lady Bison by four, 13-9. The Lady Bison took over in the second quarter and put nine points on the board compared to the Lady Eagles’ five, giving Buffalo a five-point lead at the half, 23-18. The third and fourth quarters were duplicates of the first two quarters, with the Lady Eagles putting up more points in the third quarter, and the Lady Bison hitting more baskets in the fourth. Final score as the buzzer sounded following the hard-fought game gave the win to the Lady Bison by five, 58-53.

“We had a very difficult game the first round with Buffalo,” Hansen said. “The game could have [gone] either way, but they made a few more plays then us.”

Buffalo went on to beat Star Valley in the semi-finals and earned the chance to take on Douglas for the championship. Douglas prevailed and took the state crown for this year’s season in 3A basketball.

Due to the loss, the Lady Eagles were sent to the consolation bracket for their game on Friday. The Lady Eagles were back on top and took a win from the Rawlins Lady Outlaws, 52-44, eliminating Rawlins from the tournament. 

In the game with Rawlins, Rawlins led by two at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Eagles put up three more than the Lady Outlaws in the second quarter, so the Lady Eagles had a one-point lead at the half, 27-26. 

The third quarter was when the Lady Eagles buckled down and put 18 points on the board compared to the Lady Outlaws’ nine to gain a good lead. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Outlaws put up nine points compared to Lyman’s seven, but the third quarter lead is what pushed the Lady Eagles to the winner’s circle.

Lyman faced off against Worland, winning 72-54 in the consolation championship Saturday. The Lady Eagles had the lead after the first quarter, 24-16, and continued to put more points on the board in each of the next three quarters. Lyman added 20 points in the second while Worland added 17 for a half time score of 44-33. 

More defense on both sides in the second half cut the points each team put up. Lyman scored 14 in both the third and fourth quarters, compared to Worland’s nine in the third and 12 in the fourth. The biggest lead Lyman had in the game was 24 points. A major difference in the game was Lyman scored 21 points off 3-point shots, while Worland only gained six points from the beyond the arc.

McKinley Bradshaw and McKailey Bradshaw were the high scorers in all three games.

“McKinley Bradshaw had a great tournament with 32, 29 and 22 points in the three games,” Hansen said.

“In the consolation side of the state bracket, I felt that we had two great wins to take home the fourth-place trophy.”