Rocky freshman boys sweep Cody, Greybull

The Rocky Mountain freshman boys put together their best stretch of basketball so far this season over the past week, sweeping the Cody Broncs and Greybull Buffaloes.
Rocky edged Cody at home Thursday, 32-31, then stopped Greybull at Greybull Monday, 42-33.
The Cody game was a nail-biter. The Grizz built a 22-19 halftime lead as Kellan Jackson scored 7 points. Cody edged Rocky 5-3 in a defensive third quarter, and each team scored 7 in the final quarter.
Jackson finished with 10 points to lead the Grizzlies, and Joaquin Scheeler added 9, Travis Crosby 4, Juan Rodriguez 3 and Jaxson Miller, Rylan Stebner and Jiggs Yellowtail 2 apiece.
“This was the third game of the week for these boys, and we came out with a win,” Rocky coach Taylor Winland said. “It was a back-and-forth game until the final seconds.
“We did what we needed to do and executed the play to take the lead. It was a hard-fought battle, and we earned every point against this scrappy Cody team.”
Monday night in Greybull, the Grizz took a solid 12-5 lead in the first quarter, then outscored the home team 11-8 in the second to lead 23-13 at halftime. Jackson scored 9 points in the half, Scheeler 8. Greybull edged Rocky 20-19 in the second half but could not complete a comeback.
Scheeler finished with 14 points, Jackson 11, Stebner 10, Crosby 3 and Jacob Melton and Yellowtail 2 apiece.
“In Monday night’s game against Greybull we finally were able to put together four quarters of good, unselfish basketball,” Winland said. “Almost everyone recorded an assist. It was a good overall game, from start to finish. I challenged some of the guys, and they stepped up.”
Lady Grizz
Monday at home, the Lady Grizzlies fell to Greybull 41-33. Greybull led 11-8 at halftime following a defense dominated first half, and the Lady Buffs pulled away with an 18-9 third-quarter advantage to lead 29-17.
The Lady Grizz fought back to outscore Greybull 16-12 in the fourth quarter, cutting the final margin to nine points. Layla Garder, Kaysie Cooley and Halle Grandalen scored 7 points each for the Grizzlies, Charlee Welling and Emma Sponsel 5 apiece, Lily Bauwens 2.
“Our girls work so well together and are willing to do anything that is asked of them,” coach Jamie Cooley said. “The last half of the game we were down and decided to try and put some pressure on their ball handlers with a press.
“We only have six girls, so having these girls who have played all game with little rest go into a full-court press was a lot to ask. They did it, and they did great with it. We were able to make a run on them. In the end we got a lot of good looks at the hoop, but we couldn’t get our shots to fall.”
The freshmen have a few days off before meeting up with Burlington next Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., with the boys hosting the Huskies and the girls traveling to Burlington.