The lady Rustlers faced the Laramie County Eagles after coming off a win against Williston State last saturday. The two teams battled it out Tuesday night right from the tip off with 12 lead changes throughout the course of the game.

The Rustlers had four players score in double figures lead by Rylee Burmester with 15 points and a team high nine rebounds. Paulani Tarawa with 12 going two for three beyond the arc. Amryn Brown and Alyzae Roberts both chipped in 10 with Roberts pulling down six rebounds.

The Rustlers shot well from the field sinking 27 of their 69 attempts, but struggled from the free throw line connecting on seven of their 15 attempts.

"I was pretty happy with our performance for thee and a half quarters," said head coach Ken Swartz. "I think we tightened things up defensively in the second half and didn't give them the easy buckets they got in the first half."

The Rustlers were up most of the second half but the Eagles wouldn't let down and made a run late in the fourth to go up five, when a timeout was called with 50 seconds left. The Rustlers went into the timeout and planned their attack. Miscommunication lead to the Eagles running 25 seconds off the clock ending the possession with a foul and a  bucket one, sending Rylee Burmester to the bench with her fifth foul. The Rustlers got the ball back with a little over 20 to go and scored but had to foul to stop the clock.

"Our execution the last 49 seconds was poor, we called a timeout and told them to go for the steal and if we didn't get it to foul immediately," said head coach Ken Swartz. "We didn't get the steal and didn't foul until they had run 20 seconds off the clock."

The Rustlers continue their season this Friday at 5:30 pm against the Utah Elite.

Story by Mika Pinner