WHEATLAND – The Wheatland High School Lady Bulldogs played two home games last week and came out with wins against Gering, Nebraska and Cheyenne South.

In the Thursday night clash, the Lady Bulldogs came up against a very disciplined veteran team in the Bulldogs from Gering. The first quarter was a dogfight as both teams played stingy defense and pretty much shut off all routes to the paint.

For the Bulldogs, Brinley Heimsoth was honed in from the perimeter and hit five shots from the arc for the game. The Lady Bulldogs were down by three at the end of the first quarter and then doubled up the Gering girls in the second to take a 17-14 halftime lead.

In a very physical game, girls from both teams were diving for balls and causing jump situations. By the end of the third quarter, Wheatland had taken an eight-point lead, which they would extend to the fourth and finally come away with a 46-36 victory.

The leading scorer was Heimsoth with 15, followed by Lily Nichols with 14. She also hit two 3-point shots. Jadea Graves had 13, while Kacey Otero added four points.

On Saturday afternoon, a day marked to honor anyone associated with military service, the Lady Bulldogs would face a Bison team from Cheyenne South who they had beaten a week earlier in Cheyenne 53-27.

Although the scoring and the tempo was a bit higher in Wheatland, the outcome was almost the same as far as the score went. Wheatland came away with a 59-31 victory.

Cheyenne came out with a lot of fire and hoped to establish early momentum and a big lead, but managed only to hold a slight 11-10 edge after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Lady Bulldogs caught fire and added pressure that turned their defense into fast break transitions. The Dogs held a 28-16 halftime lead and extended it to 37-23 by the end of the third quarter.

The Bulldogs, who had seen the comeback ability of Cheyenne South, shut down those aspirations quickly and often, outscoring the Bison 22-9 in the final stanza.

For the game, Nichols was the leading scorer with 20 points, followed by Graves with 17, Grace Battershell with nine, Otero with six, Camryn Mickelson had three, Annaliese Matthews had two, Karly Jones and Heimsoth each contributed one point apiece.

The Lady Bulldogs will be home Friday against Torrington in their first conference game of the season. The tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wheatland is now 12-2 with their only losses coming to Douglas and Southeast.