TORRINGTON – Lingle-Fort Laramie senior Kaylynn Jefferson signed her letter of intent on Thursday to play women’s basketball for Eastern Wyoming College this winter.
“I have an extreme passion for basketball and it’s my favorite sport,” Jefferson said. “I’ve thought long and hard about the regrets I would have to not play and this year I really found out that I’d rather do basketball than anything else.”
Jefferson was one of the leaders on a Lady Dogger team that finished as the consolation champions in the 1A state tournament this past winter. In the state tournament, LFL fell to Encampment in the opening round, 51-36, before bouncing back to best Kaycee, 48-32. In the consolation championship game, Rock River proved to be no match for the Lady Doggers, with LFL getting the win, 66-36.
Through the three games at the state tournament for the LFL girls, Jefferson racked up 25 points, eight boards and five assists.
Throughout the winter, Jefferson averaged 11.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.9 steals per game. She led the Lady Doggers in both scoring and assisting as a senior. Many of her points came from behind the arc, where she drained 73 three-pointers this past season.
Jefferson was one of the top players in the eastern conference in 1A. She ranked fourth in scoring (11.9 PPG), seventh in assists (2 APG) and seventh in three-point shooting percentage (28 percent).
“I think she comes from a good program and a good background,” EWC coach Tom Anderson said. “She is a good three-point threat and I think the other parts of her game will expand as she plays in a college role.”
Jefferson’s efforts throughout the season earned her a spot on the all-state and all-conference list. She was one of two Lady Doggers named all-state (Georgia Wollert) and one of three Lady Doggers named all-conference (Wollert and Makenna Greenwald).
Jefferson is leaving a Lady Dogger basketball team that went 15-11 last winter and joining the Lady Lancers, who posted a 22-12 in 2016-17. Jefferson will look to use her talents to improve upon EWC’s finish at the Region IX Tournament last season, where they finished as runners-up.
“It’s close to home and it’s not a big school,” Jefferson said of her choice to play for EWC. “It’s not a big change from little Lingle.”
The Lady Dogger is the second Goshen County athlete to sign with the Lady Lancers, as Southeast’s Emily Buchanan signed to play women’s basketball at EWC on April 13.
