101 The Lovell Chronicle I January 21, 2010 www.LovellChronicle.com
Lady Bulldogs sweep to lead conference
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell Lady Bulldogs
jumped to 3-0 in the 2A North-
west Conference over the weekend
with a pair of dominant peor-
mances in victories over Shoshoni
and Greybull at home.
Friday, the Bulldogs powered
past Shoshoni 64-18 with a strong
defensive effort. Saturday, they
stopped Greybull 71-40. The wins
boost Lovell's conference record to
3-0, 9-3 overall.
Shoshoni came into Winter-
holler Gym with an 8-3 record, but
the Lady Bulldogs jumped on top
21-4 in the first quarter and kept
up the defensive intensity the en-
tire game, coach Bob Geiser said.
A 14-6 second-quarter advantage
left the Bulldogs up 35-10 at the
half, and they outscored the visi-
tors 20-0 in the third to lead 55-
10. Lovell had only a 9-8 edge in
the fourth but kept playing hard
on defense.
"Our defensive effort Friday
was solid from start to fmish,"
Geiser said. "We ran the floor re-
ally well and moved our feet on
defense. We contested shots, then
rebounded, which got us going on
offense."
Geiser said Shoshoni lost
"go-to" player Coralee Spratt to
a knee injury during the game,
which hurt the Lady Blue's con-
fidence.
"That took a lot of fight out of
them," Geiser said. "That left a
big void, and they struggled worse
than they did before (the injury).
"We came out wanting to
spread the floor and spread their
defense. Alyssa (Geiser) hit two
threes early. They had to stop the
ball on the perimeter, and that al-
lowed the rest of the kids to go in-
side. Everything kind of clicked
for us."
Geiser said he was glad his
team kept up its defensive inten-
sity in the second half with the
big lead, even as he tried some
different combinations.
"Those are things you can do
consistently to be a contender," he
said. "I think the younger girls are
starting to understand that and it
makes a difference when they get
into the game."
Mykel Anderson led the Lady
Bulldogs with 21 points and five
steals. Karen Koritnik ad(ied113
pointsLAlyssa Geiser 8 points and '(bdll'
five assists. Stephanie Green had
7 points, 10 rebounds and four
steals. Katie Walker led the team
with eight assists and had nine
Mykel Anderson scrambles for the ball against the Shoshoni
Winterholler Gym. Lovell won big, 64-18.
Lady
BRAD DEVEREAUX
Blue Friday night at
boards.
The box score:
SHOSHONI (18)
Tessa Bowthorpe 1 0-0 2, Nellie Anderson 3 0-3 6,
Tess Clemetson 2 0-0 4, Sara Thompson 0 04) 0,
Halley Pince 1 0-0 2, Coraiee Spra 1 0-0 2, Johnee
Jo Campbell 1 0-6 2. Totals 9 0-3 18.
LOVELL (64)
Alyssa Geiser 3 0-0 8, Jodi Walker 1 2-2 4, Katie
Walker 1 2-24, Karen Koritnik 6 0-6 13, Keesha
Savage 1 0-6 2, Susie Robertson 1 0-0 2, Brandi
Abraham 1 0-0 2, Stephanie Green 1 5-6 7, Erin
Robertson 0 1-2 1, Miranda Griffis 0 0-0 0, Mykel
Anderson 8 5=10 21. Totals 23 15-22 64.
ShOShOni ' 4 6 0 8-18
21 14 20 9-64
Three-point field goals - Geiser 2, Koritnik 1. Fouled
out - Pince. Total fouls - Shoshoni 17, Lovell 7.
'WORKMANLIKE' WIN
Geiser said Saturday's game
against Greybull was a much
tougher test. The Lady Bulldogs
led 19-10 after one and extended
the lead in every quarter after
that, outscoring the Lady Buffs
14-7 in the second period, 20-8 in
the third and 18-15 in the fourth.
But it wasn't easy.
"Greybull is much improved
since the last time we played
them," he said. "They are much
more aggressive and hammered
the boards hard. They are good ri-
vals, and those girls came to play.
I take my hat offto them."
ter. Then Alyssa Geiser drained a
three-pointer and Koritnik went
the distance on an off play that
saw the ball ricochet off the ref-
eree and into her hands for a fast
break, putting Lovell up 19-10 at
the end of the period.
After that, it was all Lovell,
though the Lady Buffs made the
Lovell squad work for it.
"It was a good, solid effort,"
Geiser said. "It was a good, work-
manlike night. We had to kind of
wear them down and keep work-
ing. It's nice to see a team do that
Geiser said Jackie MAller al:' for four quarters."
most single-handedly kept the Koritnik led the team with
Lady Buffs in the game early, and 21 points, and she grabbed six re-
Lovell led by only four points, 14- bounds. Katie Walker added 14
10, near the end of the first quar- points and eight assists, Geiser
11 points and five assists, Green
10 points and seven rebounds and
Anderson 9 points and seven car-
oms.
The box score:
GREYBULL (40)
Michaela Jolley 0 1-3 1, Tyler Anne Brown 2 1-2 7,
Kirbi Anderson 4 6-7 14, Kate Wilkinson 1 0-1 2, Kyra
Cundall 0 0-0 0, Aubree Craft 0 4-4 4, Jackie Miller 6
0-0 12. Totals 13 12-17 40.
LOVELL (71)
Alyssa Geiser 4 0-0 11, Jodi Walker 1 2-2 4, Katie
Walker 4 6-6 14, Karen Koritnik 8 3-6 21, Keesha
Savage 1 0-0 2, Susie Robertson 0 0-0 0, Brandi
Abraham 0 0-0 0, Stephanie Green 5 0-2 10, Erin
Robertson 0 0-0 0, Miranda Griffis 0 0-0 0, Mykel
Anderson 3 3-5 9. Totals 26 14-21 71.
Greybull 10 7 8 15-40
Lovell 19 14 20 18-71
Three-point field goals - Brown 2; Geiser 3, Koritnik
2. Fouled out - none. Total fouls - Greybul117, Lovell
14.
BIG WEEKEND
The Lovell girls have a huge
weekend ahead of them with two
ranked foes on the schedule, in-
cluding Class 3A Cody.
The Lady Bulldogs host Cody
tonight at 4 (JV) and 5:30 p.m.,
and Geiser said the players are
looking forward to the challenge
from the Lady Broncs, who are
11-1 overall and were ranked
third in Class 3A last week.
"They may be number one
this week," Geiser said. "They
have Brittany Myers in the mid-
die, so they're big and strong, and
Danielle Skinner is a threat from
outside.
"It will be one of those clas-
sic battles of style. They'll want to
hammer it inside and kick it out
to their shooters, while we'll want
to run the floor."
Friday, the Lady Bulldogs
travel to Basin to take on the Riv-
erside Rebels at 4 and 5:30 p.m.
Riverside is 3-6 overall but de-
feated Greybull 56-31 last week
to go 1-0 in the conference. Geiser
said the Lady Rebels are "small,
but very quick" and said it will be
important to take care of the bas-
ketball.
Saturday, the Lady Bull-
dogs travel to Dayton to meet the
Tongue River Eagles at 1 (frosh),
2:30 and 4 p.m. Geiser called the
game "Tongue River Chapter 35"
and said the Eagles will be look-
ing for a better performance after
losing a large led in a 59-55 over-
time loss at L6ell on Jan. 9. ' :
"WeAre gaiaLtmhave to play
really well," he said. "After the
comeback a week ago, they're not
going to look by us. We have to get
into a better offensive rhythm."
Lady Grizz drop tough pair on road
BY DAVID PECK
The Rocky Mountain Lady
Grizzlies faced a tough pair of op-
ponents on the road last week,
and while they fell to the second-
ranked (3A) Powell Panthers and
the fourth-ranked (2A) Wyoming
Indian Chiefs, they will profit in
the long run from the tough com-
petition, coach Ryan Boettcher
said.
The Lady Grizz traveled to
Powell Thursday night to take
on the tall, physical Lady Pan-
thers. Powell prevailed 50-26,
but Boettcher said his squad
held their own at times. In fact,
the two teams traded baskets in
a first quarter that left the Lady
Panthers up by only one at the
break, 12-11. Eliza Higgins scored
7 points for the Lady Grizz.
"We played man (defense) for
the most part," Boettcher said.
"They're pretty strong inside.
We wanted to work on our man
and post defense so it was a good
workout with the quality of Pow-
ell's athletes.
"we were able to get open
looks (on offense). The girls did a
good job running the offense. But
they were able to sub deeper, and
we started standing around and
weren't as active on offense."
Powell outscored the Griz-
zlies 12-0 in the second quarter to
take a 24-11 lead at the half.
"We still got good looks, but
they were contested looks. They
were able to put their hands up,"
Boettcher said. "It was good for
us to try to shoot over people and
through people. We didn't turn
the ball over a lot, but we weren't
able to get a lot of wide-open
looks. We need to be able to shoot
and make contested shots."
Powell gradually continued
to pull away in the second half,
outscoring the Lady Grizz 15-9 in
the third quarter and 11-6 in the
fourth.
"It was a battle on the inside,"
Boettcher said. "They wear you
down. We're still short-handed by
one and for us, one is too many.
"We concentrated on the game
within the game and on things to
work on. I was happy with our ef-
forts there."
The box score:
ROCKY (26)
Melanie Wahlbrink 0 0-0 O, Miranda Wilson 0 0-0 0,
Kallee Hernandez 0 0-0 0, Lauren Peterson 2 2-4
6, Leslie Blackburn 3 1-2 7, Eliza Higgins 5 1-2 11.
Totals 11 4-8 26.
POWELL (50)
Kami Cooley 2 0-0 4, Hannah Pollart 7 7-10 22, Katie
Kipp 2 0-0 4, Leslie Thronburg 2 1-1 5, Olivia Rogers
1 0-0 2, Savannah Donarski 5 1-2 12, Emily Kath 0
1-3 1. Totals 19 10-16 50.
Rocky 11 0 9 6-26
Powell 12 12 15 11-50
Three-point field goals - Pollart, Donarski. Fouled
out - Hernandez. Total fouls - Rocky 14, Powel110.
BATTLE AT ETHETE
The Lady Grizzlies played
pretty well at times on the road
Saturday, and showed a lot of
grit, Boettcher said, but a cold
shooting game doomed them.
"we played really well, but
we just have to make our shots,"
he said. "We had good looks and
we hustled, but every time we got
a look, it. rolled off. It was a frus-
trating game."
Wyoming Indian led 21-15 af-
ter the first quarter and extended
the lead to 20 at the half by out-
scoring the Lady Grizz 25-11 in
the second. Rocky outscored the
Lady Chiefs 13-10 in the third,
then turned up the pressure to
outscore the home team 23-15.in
the fourth to close the final gap to
nine.
"we hung with 'em and were
able to close late," Boettcher said.
"We had chances to cut it to three
with back-to-back possessions at
seven. If we had hit those two
shots...
"we made a good run. I preach
a never-say-die attitude. They
were never able to pull away from
US."
Boettcher said the Lady Griz-
zlies played well defensively, but
he said the Lady Chiefs were on
their game, shooting well and
running the floor well. He said
his team would get back to de-
fend the break, but the Wyoming
Indian players would still convert
in transition.
"They never missed a pass,"
the coach said. "They played tran-
sition like nobody we've seen this
year. It was a good game for us to
see that.
"There were a lot of positives.
We didn't let them take the ball
away from us, and we matched
their intensity and aggressive-
ness."
The box score:
ROCKY !62)
Melanie Wahlbrink 3 0-0 6, Melissa Iverson 1 0-0 2,
Miranda Wilson 1 0-0 3, Kallee Hernandez 4 7-7 15,
Lauren Petarson 3 9-13 15, Leslie Blackburn 3 2-6 8,
Eliza Higgins 5 3-6 13. Totals 20 21-32 62.
WlHS (71)
Ranell Oldman 8 4-5 20, Anneshia Hill 2 4-4 8,
Kristen Washakie 8 1,1 17, Toni Valdez 2 1-1 5, Kim
Goggles 0 1-2 1, Jocelyn Underwood 0 2-2 2, Kirsti
O'Neal 2 0-0 5, Ashleigh Trosper 0 0-0 0, Brugh 5
3-3 13. Totals 27 16-18 71.
Rocky 15 11 13 23-62
WlHS 21 25 10 15-71
Three-point field goals- Wilson 1; O'Neal 1. Fouled
out- Hemandez, Trosper. Total fouls - Rocky 16,
WIHS 23.
CONFERENCE CONTESTS
The Lady Grizz (1-0, 5-5)
will continue their quest for the
top of the conference standings
this weekend when they travel to
Greybull and host Riverside for a
pair of conference games Friday
and Saturday.
"These are two key games.
It's our tradition to play Greybull
and Riverside on back-to-back
nights. Our conference is always
competitive. We've got to come in
prepared.
"Greybull is always tough
at home. We'll go in expecting a
physical game and a close game.
We expect conference games to be
a battle, and that's the mentality
we take to games."
The Grizz play at Greybull
Friday at 4 (JV) and 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, the Lady Grizz will
host the Riverside Lady Rebels
at 12 and 3 p.m. Boettcher said
he expects the Rebels to use their
quickness to press and defend. He
said there will be some size mis-
matches "that can work in your
favor or against you."
DAWD lCK
Rocky Mountain freshman Kallee Hernandez powers between
a pair of Burlington defenders during the battle in Burlington
on Jan. 8.
