CASPER – The Southeast Lady Cyclones lost their opening game in Casper in the 2A State tournament against Rocky Mountain, 44-38, before beating Lovell 41-29 and Greybull 47-35 to take home the consolation championship.

Rocky Mountain 44, Southeast 38
The Lady Cyclones jumped out to a 9-6 lead after the first frame, capitalizing on their early momentum for an 18-17 lead at halftime. In the second half, Southeast put up 10 in each quarter, while Rocky Mountain poured in 14 and 13 to snag the win.
“Thursday our first-round game was tough. We were evenly matched but we didn’t shoot the ball very well and that was the main problem in the game,” coach Jennifer Scheer said. “We played pretty good defense on them. At the end of the day, we just couldn’t put up the points to win.”
Emily Buchanan led the Lady Cyclones in scoring, racking up 15 points, including a three-pointer and four points from the charity stripe. The senior added eight rebounds, two assists and a team-high four steals to her stat line.
“Emily has been a leading scorer for us all year,” Scheer said. “She knows what she needs to do as the leader and point guard of the team and she did her job.”
Ellie Schmitt joined Buchanan in double-figures with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. She paired her 12 points with three rebounds and two steals. Hailey Anderson paced Southeast on the boards, hauling in 17 rebounds. She also had five points and three steals.
In the losing effort, Southeast shot 27 percent from the floor, compared to Rocky Mountains 39 percent shooting percentage. The Lady Cyclones managed to hit only 1-of-9 from behind the arc, while the Grizzly nailed 5-of-9 from deep.

Southeast 41, Lovell 29
The loss against Rocky Mountain eliminated the Lady Cyclones from state title contention. In the consolation bracket, Southeast took on Lovell at the Casper Events Center.
“You decide that isn’t going to be how you end your season,” Scheer said of the team’s mentality after the loss to Rocky Mountain. “You regroup and move one and look for the next challenge, and that was Lovell.”
The Lady Cyclones snagged a 10-7 lead after the first quarter and were able to hold onto this lead. By halftime, Southeast was up 20-17. In the third quarter, Southeast built a 15-point lead (37-22) and took a 37-24 lead into the fourth, where they were outscored 5-4.
“I thought we matched up well against Lovell,” Scheer said. “We played tremendous defense and tremendous all-around basketball.”
Buchanan again paced the Lady Cyclones in scoring, tallying up 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting. She also had eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Anderson poured in 10 points for Southeast, all coming from inside the arc. She led the team in rebounds, hauling down nine boards in the win, along with an assist and a steal. Schmitt (5), Kaci Schmick (4) and Shelby Schainost (3) rounded out the scorers for the Lady Cyclones. The three combined for 16 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Southeast hauled in 37 rebounds to Lovell’s 27 in the win. The Lady Cyclones shot 35 percent from the field and 33 percent from behind the arc. They did leave five points at the charity stripe on 4-of-9 shooting.

Southeast 47, Greybull 35
For the third game of the tournament, Southeast built a three-point lead after the first frame, leading the Lady Buffs 7-4 after the first eight minutes of action. Southeast’ three-point advantage continued into intermission, 20-17. The Lady Cyclones pouted on the points in the second half, pouring in 15 and 12 points over the two quarters, while allowing only nine in each frame.
Anderson may not have been Southeast’s leading scorer, but she did record a double-double in the win, racking up 13 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Buchanan was the top scorer for Southeast for the third game in a row in Casper. She had 16 points, with eight coming from the free-throw line and six coming from deep. Buchanan also had eight rebounds in the win. Kylie Carson and Schmick each had six points to round out the top scorers for Southeast.
“I got a tremendous game from Kylie Carson and Whitney Foos and that seemed to be the difference,” Scheer said.
The Lady Cyclones again had a big advantage on the boards, 43-24. They shot 33 percent from the floor, which was three percent better than Greybull. Nine of Southeast’s points came from behind the arc on 3-of-10 shooting, while the Lady Buffs only hit 1-of-11 from deep. Southeast left nine points at the charity stripe, where it went 12-of-21.
“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores and juniors play for us and it’s big to end the season with a win,” Scheer said.
The win over Greybull secured the consolation championship for the Lady Cyclones. Big Horn took the championship after their win over state runner-up Wyoming Indian. Rocky Mountain finished third. Southeast finished the 2016-17 season with a 20-9 record.