Lady Grizzlies End Long Drought

Last week the Lady Grizzlies faced two very tough 2A teams.  Depending on which poll you look at, both Butte County and Raft River are ranked in the top five 2A teams in the state.  Meanwhile the Lady Grizzlies have struggled to pick up wins as of late.  In fact prior to last week  the last win for Grace came back on January 3rd at Murtaugh.  Granted that stretch of games included two 4A schools and the number one 2A team in the state.

The Lady Grizzlies started their week by traveling to district rival Butte County.  The Lady Pirates are a fairly young team with lots of talent.  Most pundits have picked the Pirates to win the district championship and do very well at the state tournament.  However these rivalry games are always much more competitive than many expect them to be.  That was the case in last week’s matchup.  Grace being on the road and considered the underdogs in this game came out aggressive quickly grabbing a small four point lead.  As the quarter continued the two teams battled very evenly and when the quarter came to a close the Lady Grizzlies were clinging to a small two point lead.  That small lead would not last long.  The Pirates started the second quarter on a ten to three run earning them a five point lead.  The Grizzlies were able to fight back and briefly tie the game up near the midway point of the quarter but by the halftime break Grace had fallen behind by eight points.  Out of the break the Lady Grizzlies had difficulty scoring any points and the Pirate lead continued to build, getting as high as seventeen.  Grace did finally put a string of positive offensive possessions together getting back to within ten points by the end of the quarter.  The fourth quarter was a very sloppy affair.  On several occasions loose balls sent girls diving to the floor resulting in jump balls with very little scoring going on.  Despite all of this the Lady Grizzlies had clawed back to within five points with just one minute left in the game.  That would be as close as Grace would get.  Some late fouls sent the Pirates to the foul line but what really hurt Grace was giving up a couple of rebounds in those situations.  The Grizzlies lost the game by eight extending their January slump. 

Next up for the Lady Grizzlies was a home game against a very scrappy three loss Raft River team.  The Lady Trojans have been hovering right around that number five state ranking all season long.  The Lady Grizzlies hungry for a win took this challenging game head on. The game got started with the teams trading baskets in a back and forth affair.  Both teams were quick up and down the court with a lot of quick shots.  When the quarter ended the Grizzlies had snuck out to a three point lead.  The second period of play began with the Trojans going on an eight point run and taking over the lead.  With just about one minute left in the half the Grizzlies put in four points in back to back possessions and regained the lead.  As the two teams went to the halftime break they were separated by a single point.  In the third quarter both teams had their fair share of mistakes as the play got a little sloppy.  Grace was able to hold their advantage and even add three points to the lead.  This game was anything but over however as they headed to the fourth.  The Lady Grizzlies opened up the fourth quarter by going on a run that included a big three point shot by Tessica Jorgensen forcing a Raft River timeout.  Out of the timeout the Trojans responded by cutting the lead to four points and putting on a tough press.  After trading a couple of baskets the Trojans did get as close as three points with under a minute to play.  With the clock running Raft River was forced to foul and hope the Grizzlies would miss from the line.  The Lady Grizzlies made enough of those shots to hang on for the win and thus ending their nearly month long losing streak.  The Lady Grizzlies have a busy week this week as they finish off the regular season.  They finish with three home games starting with West Side on Wednesday, followed by Butte County on Thursday and wrap up the season taking on Cokeville Wyoming on Saturday.

Grizzlies 10 10 13 7 40

Pirates 8 20 15 5 48

K.Stoddard 10, K.Mansfield 10, L.Gilbert 1, P.Steadman 4, C.Yost 9, T.Jorgensen 6

Grizzlies 15 7 9 11 42

Trojans 12 9 6 11 38

K.Stoddard 16, K.Christensen 6, K.Mansfield 5, L.Gilbert 2, P.Steadman 2, T.Jorgensen 11