Lady Grizz battle in rugged stretch of games

The schedule of the Rocky Mountain Middle School girls basketball team has appeared to pack in as many games as possible in the final week before the Thanksgiving holiday as the Lady Grizz played four series of games in five days.

Playing in Powell Thursday, the Lady Grizz A team fell to Powell 37-17. Powell led 16-8 at halftime, then broke the game open with 17-6 advantage in the third quarter. Taylor Grandalen and Sawyer Bassett scored 7 points each to lead Rocky Mountain, and Elle Ganoung added 2 points, Kielley Brimhall 1.

“Powell came out with great intensity from the start, and we matched it,” Rocky coach Taylor Winand said. “Powell applied a press, and we handled it for the most part. They sped us up at times. It was a fun environment for the girls to play in.”

The B team fell to Powell 38-7 as Kate Crosby scored all 7 points for the Lady Grizz, then Powell made it a sweep with a 35-11 win in the C game. Kinli Bitton scored 5 points for RMMS, Lauren Hedges, Presli Moss and Paisley Malson 2 apiece.

The Lady Grizz won one of three games at home against Burlington Friday. The A team beat the Lady Huskies 13-10 in a defensive battle, shutting out the visitors in the first and fourth quarters.

Bassett led the Lady Grizz with 8 points, and Brimhall and Grandalen added 2 points each, Daizy Weinand 1.

“This was our third game of the week, and our legs started to show,” Winland said. “It was a slow game for both teams, but we finally got it going the second half. I will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.”

Burlington edged Rocky Mountain 19-17 in the B game as Tianna Christiansen led a balanced RMMS attack with 6 points. Bitton scored 3 points, Hedges, Moss, Brimhall and Malson 2 each. Burlington shut out Rocky Mountain in the C game 36-0.

Saturday in Cowley, the Lady Grizz suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Thermopolis. The Lady Bobcats won the A game 44-21, outscoring the home team in all four quarters. Bassett led the Lady Grizz with 12 points, and Brimhall added 5 points, Grandalen 3 and Ganoung 1.

“This go-round against Thermop we played a lot better than we did in the beginning of the season,” Winland said. “The score didn’t really show it, but we as coaches saw the vast improvement.”

Thermop won the first quarter of the B game 12-0 and went on to win 27-14. Moss scored 6 points for the Lady Grizzlies, Hedges 3, Crosby and Christiansen 2 apiece, Brimhall 1.

The C game was all Thermop as the Lady Bobcats came away with a 16-2 win. Millie Hanusa scored the lone basket for RMMS.

“We had a lot of games last week, and the girls came every night ready to play,” B team coach Julie Winland said. “I’m proud of them powering through.” Added C team coach Madison Grandalen, “We had lots of opportunities to shoot, but they just didn’t fall our way. I’m super proud of them for keeping their heads up and working hard.”

The Lady Grizzlies wrapped up a busy week in Greybull Monday evening. Results were not available by press time.

The Lady Grizz will have the weekend off for Thanksgiving and will then host the A team Big Horn Conference Tournament Saturday, Dec. 7, in Cowley. The rest of the squad will travel to Riverside that Saturday for a B/C team jamboree.