TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School girls’ basketball team made the most of the home court advantage for the 3A East Regional Tournament over the weekend.

After losing their opening round game to Newcastle on Thursday, the Lady Blazers bounced back with two victories to secure their place at this weekend’s state tournament in Casper.

On Thursday, Torrington jumped out to a 7-2 lead and held it through the first couple minutes of the second quarter. However, in the end, the Lady Dogies got the best of Torrington 38-25.

“It was the third time we played them, so we knew a little bit more about them,” THS coach Chris Strampe said. “I thought we came out and did some things well. They are a quality team, full of seniors, and they had a little more persistence. They were able to pull it out in the end.”

Sophomore Teryn Stokes pushed the Lady Blazer lead to 10-4, but Newcastle scored the next 12 points.

“We liked where we were at,” Strampe said. “We knew they were going to respond, and they did in the second quarter. With the big crowd, and lots going on, it was a great way to start the game.”

With 5:43 left in the second quarter, the Lady Dogies hit a 3-pointer to put them in front 11-10.

It was the lone lead change of the game.

Newcastle slowly pulled away over the remainder of the game.

Senior Marissa Moorehouse led the team with seven points, while sophomore Olive Osmera and junior Marina Pastalle had five each.

The next day, the Lady Blazers found themselves in a battle with the Glenrock Lady Herders to keep their state tournament hopes alive.

When the dust settled, Torrington edged Glenrock, 50-49.

“We knew they would make it a tough battle,” Strampe said. “They tend to make games close and play a style that you don’t want to play. We had the lead for most of it. It was a little back and forth. We were able to pull away towards the end.”

The Lady Blazers led 12-8 after one quarter. The lead remained four at halftime as both teams netted 14 points apiece.

In the third quarter, Glenrock closed the gap by three, cutting the Torrington lead to one at 35-34 with eight minutes to play the season.

The Lady Blazers fended off Glenrock, and both teams scored 15 points in the quarter to advance Torrington to another must-win game against rival Wheatland.

Down the stretch, free throws became important for the Lady Blazers. They ended the game 22-of-31 from the charity stripe.

Pastalle led the team with 18 points, while Stokes tossed in 16 points and grabbed a tea-high 14 rebounds. Osmera had eight points.

On Saturday morning’s winner-qualifies-for-state game, third time was the charm for the Lady Blazers against the Wheatland Lady Bulldogs.

After two losses to Wheatland during the regular season, the Lady Blazers picked up a 42-25 victory to secure their place at state.

Torrington grabbed an early 11-1 lead by the end of the first quarter.

It took Wheatland a minute and a half into the second quarter for the visitors to knock down their first field goal of the game.

“The girls really bought in and peaked at the right time,” Strampe said. “We knew we hadn’t played a good game against them yet. We knew if we played how we wanted to and our shots went in, I was confident we could beat them.”

The Lady Blazers were able to extend their lead to 23-8 by halftime and 40-20 at the end of the third quarter.

“We were able to keep taking care of our business, keep limiting them on the offense end and make our free throws,” Strampe said. “It turned into a surprisingly comfortable game for us to get there.”

Moorehouse led the team with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Pastalle added nine points. Stokes chipped in seven.

The win was to setup a rematch against Newcastle, but due to a conference rule, the game was not actually played.

“It’s something they’ve instituted the last couple years. It’s primarily to gets teams home earlier that night and not have so many games being played late on that last day,” Strampe said. “Because we had already played Newcastle and lost, the rule is, they take the outcome of that first game and apply it to that third/fourth game.”

Not getting the game played wasn’t something the team was worried about.

“The matchup for us between one and two from the other side probably not that big of a deal,” Strampe said. “At that point, we were just excited to be heading to state.”

The Lady Blazers will head to state as the No. 4 seed and will face Lyman in the opening round on Thursday at the Ford Wyoming Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

“We are pretty familiar with them. Seems like over the past seven or eight years, we’ve played them in the first round of state three times,” Strampe said. “They are an aggressive team. We know what to expect and how they’ll play. It’ll be a good matchup for us. They aren’t a team who is unbeatable and completely dominate by any means. If we take care of business like we did against Wheatland, we’ll have a chance to pull it out.”