Cheyenne girls cruise to victory

Matt O'Brien

Friday, Jan. 9, 1998 | 12:58 p.m.

You could call Cheyenne's latest Southern AAAA girls' basketball victory an inside job.

The Lady Shields remained unbeaten in Sunset Division play Thursday night as they cruised to a 57-33 victory over visiting Cimarron-Memorial. Cheyenne controlled the game from the opening tip and never looked back.

The inside play of the Cheyenne forwards proved to be the difference as 5-foot-10 Yolanda Banks and 5-9 Tiffiney Adams dominated the paint against the undersized Lady Spartans.

Banks finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds and Adams chipped in 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Lady Shields outrebounded their opponent 39-24.

"I felt good out there tonight," said a confident Banks. "We're starting to play well together as a team. Right now, I don't think anyone can beat us."

So far in division play, no one has. The Lady Shields improved to 9-3 overall and (3-0 in the Sunset). Cimarron fell to 4-5 and 1-1.

Coaching also was a factor in the outcome. Cheyenne's Karen Weitz used a stingy box-and-one defense to shut down Cimarron's high-scoring guard Karen McCarter.

McCarter, who entered the game averaging a whopping 30 points, was limited to seven points on 2-of-12 shooting.

"Our goal is to take away the other team's strength," Weitz said. "McCarter is their best player, so we concentrated on stopping her."

With their top gun taken out of the game, the Lady Spartans had trouble scoring. They trailed 38-20 at the half and managed only 13 points after the break.

Carmen Padilla led Cimarron with 11 points. Lori Sandoval and Nikki Richards chipped in six apiece.

Amanda Koval hit three 3-pointers for the Lady Shields and finished with 12 points.