Grizzlies Need Overtime To End Losing Streak

Prior to last week the Grizzlies had gone one and four in a two week span.  On last week’s schedule of games Grace faced three solid opponents in Soda Springs, Butte County and Cokeville Wyoming.  All three games could be considered rivalry games in each of their own ways.  Soda Springs are the Grizzlies old rival from the past when the two schools competed in the same conference.  Butte County is their biggest rival in their current conference, while Cokeville has been a formidable interstate rival over the past few years.

The Grizzlies started the week at Soda Springs taking on a Cardinal team that was on a winning streak.  Grace hung close to the Cardinals in the early part of the first quarter eventually falling behind by four.  Even with the four point deficit the Grizzlies continued to battle hard until the very end of the quarter when they allowed the Cardinals to go on a five point run ending the first down by nine.  In the second quarter the Grizzly’s Achileis heel as of late, bad passing, had Grace turning the ball over far too often.  The multiple turnovers resulted in the Grizzlies falling further behind and going to the halftime break now down by twelve.  The quality of play did not improve in the third as both teams got a little sloppy in their play.  The two teams matched scores in the period and the lead stood at twelve going into the fourth quarter.  The Grizzlies attempted to turn up the pressure on the Cardinals in the fourth.  Unfortunately for Grace this resulted in sending the Cardinals to the foul line where they were very proficient in this game.  In the end the Cardinals pulled away from the Grizzlies giving Grace another blowout loss.

The Grizzlies attempted to shake off the loss two days later when they hosted Butte County.  Ultimately a district championship and a berth to state will come down to the Grizzlies and Pirates.  Last week was the first time the two teams met this season.  In the first quarter of play many of the Grizzlies struggled to score.  The one Grace player that did not struggle was Junior Parker Yost.  Yost was the only Grizzly to score a field goal in the first quarter of play.  The lack of scoring from other Grizzlies led to the Grace trailing at the end of the first by three points.  In the second quarter the two evenly matched teams continued to battle and more of the Grizzlies got into the scoring column.  By the halftime break Grace had flipped the script and taken the lead by three points.  The third quarter saw the two teams continue to parallel each other.  The scoring remained minimal while the defense was solid.  At the end of the third Grace still had the lead but only by two points.  The fourth quarter saw the Grizzlies trying to do more not to lose than to win the game.  Grace was very hesitant on offense and did not work the ball inside enough.  The Pirates were just the opposite as they continued to attack the rim and make some outside shots.  The Grizzlies lost the lead and the game.  Changes in strategy in the second half doomed the Grizzlies.  In the first half Grizzly post players scored seventeen points led by Yost with twelve.  In the second half that production was cut in half to just eight total points and just four from Yost. 

In their final game of the week the Grizzlies hosted Cokeville on Saturday afternoon.  This game quickly turned into a defensive battle.  In the first quarter of play the Grizzlies held the Panthers to just five points but only scored seven of their own to take a two point lead.  The second quarter did not have any dramatic jump in offensive output.  Senior Landon Moss took the lead for the Grizzlies in the quarter scoring five points of the teams nine total points.  The Grizzlies headed to the half now leading by just four points.  The momentum shifted slightly in the third quarter with the Panthers keeping the game close and cutting the lead back to just two points.  In the fourth the game would come down to foul shooting.  The Panthers were a perfect seven for seven while the Grizzlies managed to just go one for three.  When the final buzzer sounded the game was all knotted up and the teams headed to overtime.  In the overtime period the foul shooting troubles continued for the Grizzlies.  Grace only made one out of five foul shots.  Fortunately the Panthers also struggled from the line as they went two for six.  The Grizzlies finally added another win to their season with a three point win in a low scoring affair.

The Grizzlies have a slower week this week with just one game on the schedule.  That game will be senior night for Grace as they host Oakley on Saturday afternoon.

Grizzlies 14 9 10 11 44

Cardinals 23 12 10 14 59

D.Hill 11, J.Smith 1, B.Kimball 13, C.Smith 4, C.Reeves 3, C.Welch 2, P.Yost 7, L.Moss 3

Grizzlies 9 14 9 5 37

Pirates 12 8 10 13 43

D.Hill 6, B.Kimball 3, C.Smith 5, C.Reeves 4, P.Yost 16, B.Smith 3

Grizzlies 7 9 7 9 7 39

Panthers 5 7 9 11 4 36

D.Hill 7, B.Kimball 7, G.Draper 6, C.Reeves 3, P.Yost 11, L.Moss 5