CHRONICLE
Or S
February 2, 2012 I The Lovell Chronicle I 9
Bulldogs pull away late to top Grizz
BY DAVID PECK
For about 25 minutes
Thursday night, the Rocky
Mountain Grizzlies went
toe to toe with the top-
ranked Lovell Bulldogs at
the RMHS Gym in Cowley,
but fourth-quarter doldrums
doomed the Grizz as the
Bulldogs pulled away to win
67-51.
Until the Grizz found
a lid on the basket in the
fourth, they battled the
Bulldogs hard in a very en-
tertaining game. The lead
changed hands 10 times
in the first three quarters,
and was also tied five times
as the two longtime rivals
fought for control of the
game.
The game was a con-
trast in styles. Lovell
worked the ball inside to
center Cody Savage early in
the game, and the big junior
scored the first four baskets
of the game inside for the
Bulldogs, then moved out-
side to drill a three-pointer
as Lovell led 11-8 and then
13-8 on a Colin May drive.
"We knew we would def-
initely have an advantage
with our bigs, Cody espe-
cially," Lovell coach Brian
May said. "The kids did a
nice job. We tried a few new
things. We set Cody up to
come from different spots,
to disguise where he was
coming from and who was
screening for him. We did a
good job executing that and
Cody wasn't rushing. He
was very comfortable and
patient."
Rocky coach Michael
Bernhisel said, with his
team's height disadvantage,
the Grizzlies once again
used ball pressure out front
to make it harder for Lovell
to execute the entry pass to
the post, knowing that the
tactic also left freshman cen-
ter Kirby Winland "on an is-
land" inside against Savage.
"It was a good learning
experience for Kirby," Sim-
mons said. "Kirby is a good
player and is going to be a
great player. He's continu-
ing to learn every week and
is becoming more aggres-
sive.
"Against every team we
play we're trying to create
ball pressure...Lovell has
good, disciplined guards and
was able to work with that
pressure more than other
teams. Cody did a good job
getting his shot up quickly
and not allowing the double
team to come."
Rocky, meanwhile, fac-
ing a substantial disadvan-
tage in size, went to the
outside game and drained
four treys in the first quar-
ter including three straight,
one by Michael Bernhisel
and two by Derik Romero
that put the Grizz up 17-
13. A hook shot by Bulldog
Morgan Baxendale cut the
margin to two points at the
quarter break, 17-15.
"We tried to spread it
out," Simmons said. "That's
our game plan - layups and
threes. We were very suc-
cessful for three quarters.
We created some good looks
from the outside. The young
men did a great job doing
that, and two to three Lovell
players got into foul trouble
early."
Lovell started the sec-
ond quarter with a 6-0 run
to lead 21-17, but Cannon
Simmons broke the string
with a drive. Savage and
Colin May countered with
buckets for the Bulldogs,
but a three-point play (bas-
ket and free throw) by Win-
land kept the Grizz close.
Rocky outscored Lovell 7-2
down the stretch to tie the
score at halftime, 29-29.
"Rocky really did a good
job shooting the basketball,
DAVID PECK
Lovell senior McKayan May attempts to drive
baseline against Rocky Mountain defender Shane
Wocicki during Lovell's
Thursday.
and that kind of kept them
close," May said. "What l
liked about our team was,
while they were hitting a lot
of perimeter shots, they re-
ally didn't extend their lead.
We had some perimeter
open looks, too, that didn't
fall for us in that game.
"I felt at times defen-
sively, especially in the fist
half, that we got caught in
transition at times, leav-
ing some open looks, And
they knocked 'era down. We
concentrated in the second
half on not allowing transi-
tion and leaving people wide
67-51 win in Cowley
open."
The lead see-sawed back
and forth early in the third
quarter as Lovell went back
inside to Savage and Rocky
stayed hot from beyond the
arc as Bernhisel, Ward and
Romero each knocked down
treys. Savage scored all of
the points during a 6-2 burst
for the Bulldogs, but base-
line drives by Romero and
Bill Despain kept the Grizz
close, trailing 45-44. In the
closing seconds of the quar-
ter Dylan Hultgren worked
inside for a Lovell basket
and Romero hit one of two
at the line for the Grizz as
Lovell led 47-45 at the quar-
ter break.
The fourth quarter was
almost all Lovell. Cannon
Simmons scored on a hus-
tle play to match a McK-
ayan May basket, but then
the proverbial lid went on
the basket for the Grizz and
Lovell ripped off a 14-0 run
to lead to lead 63-47, turn-
ing a nail-biter into a dou-
ble-digit lead. Colin May
scored 6 during the run,
Savage 5 and Hultgren 3.
Bernhisel finally broke
the ice for Rocky with a trey
with about a minute and a
half left in the game, but
the damage had been done
and Lovell went on to win
67-51.
"They missed some
shots early in the fourth
quarter, and we got the re-
bound and scored," May
said. "And we got to the foul
line, which helped us."
Simmons said he was
pleased with his team's de-
fense and praised Derik
Romero for doing a good job
- spelled by Cannon Sim-
mons - guarding Lovell
leading scorer Colin May.
Overall, Coach Sim-
mons said, the Grizz ex-
ecuted what the coaches
drew up in the locker room.
"Everything we needed
to do, they did," Simmons
said about his squad. "Our
goal was to win the game,
but there were some lit-
tle short-term goals we did
a very good job on, even
with Cody having a career
night."
Down the stretch, he
said, the Grizz missed some
shots, missed some front
ends of one-and-one free-
throw opportunities, had
some turnovers and had
some mental breakdowns
defensively, but overall, the
Grizzlies executed the game
plan and were in a position
to win late into the game.
Savage had a monster
game for the Bulldogs, fin-
ishing with 34 points and 14
rebounds. Colin May added
12 points and four assists,
Dylan Hultgren 9 points
and seven rebounds. As for
the Grizzlies, Romero fin-
ished with 16 points, Bern-
hisel and Ward 9 each, Cam
non Simmons 6. Ward and
Winland pulled down six re-
bounds each.
The box score:
LOVELL (67)
Colin May 4 4-5 12, Collin McArthur
0 1-2 1, Hunter Hinckley 0 0-0 0,
McKayan May 2 1-2 5, Morgan
Baxendale 2 0-0 4, Dylan Hultgren
2 5-6 9, Ryan Clark 1 0-0 2, Cody
Savage 13 7-7 34. Totals 24 18-22
67.
ROCKY (51)
Michael Bernhisel 3 0-2 9, Shane
Wocicki 1 1-2 4, Joey Jewell 0
0-0 0, Bill Despain 1 0-0 2, Kirby
Winland 1 3-3 5, Derik Romero 6
1-2 16, Cannon Simmons 2 2-3 6,
Bryce Ward 3 1-39. Totals 17 8-15
51.
Lovell 15 14 18 20-67
Rocky 17 12 16 6- 51
Three-point field goals - Savage
1 ; Bernhisel 3, Romero 3, Ward 2,
Wocicki 1. Fouled out - Baxendale.
Total fouls - Lovell 20, Rocky 20.
LOVELL JVS WIN
Lovell won the junior
varsity game 45-26, leading
19-16 at the half and then
pulling away by outscoring
the Grizz 26-10 in the sec-
ond half.
Brandon Wolvington
scored 13 points for the
Bulldogs, Austin Ellis 7,
Chase Tippetts 6, Calin
McArthur 5, Mysen McAr-
thur 4, Jacob Adey, Seth
Kite and Morgan May 3
each, Aaron Monterde 1.
For the Grizz, Joey Jew-
ell scored 13, Bill Despain
and Cannon Simmons 5
each, Jordan Arnold 2 and
Darren Brumwell 1.
Lady Bulldogs battle past improved Rocky Mountain team
BY DAVID PECK
The Rocky Mountain
Lady Grizzlies showed that
they've come a long way as
they hosted the top-ranked
Lovell Lady Bulldogs Thurs-
day night in Cowley, but they
also learned that they have a
way to go to compete with the
best of the best.
For the Lady Bulldogs, it
was a solid road win against
a solid opponent.
Lovell won the first of
two annual rivalry games 47-
31.
"It's always interesting
when you play a team from
close by like this, your ri-
vals," said Rocky coach Ryan
Boettcher. "There's always
a big crowd, which makes it
fun. It was a big night and
we need to learn to play un-
der that kind of pressure. If
you're going out for tourna-
ments and want to do well,
you have to learn to play this
kind of game."
Points didn't come eas-
ily for either team Thursday,
but Lovell battled to an early
8-0 lead and never trailed in
the contest. A flurry of offen-
sive rebounds finally led to
the first basket of the game,
a follow shot by senior center
Erin Robertson, and that was
followed by a transition bas-
ket by Amanda Shumway,
an inside bucket by Alyssa
Geiser on a cut to the basket
and an inside move by Jodi
Walker.
Lovell was very aggres-
sive to the hoop early.
'Te were being aggres-
sive attacking the basket,"
Lovell coach Chris Edwards
said. "We talk about attack-
ing things north and south
and getting to the rim. We
feel we have the athletic abil-
ity to put pressure on teams
by attacking with penetra-
tion or with solid cuts."
Kallee Wilson final-
ly broke the ice for Rocky
Mountain with a jumper 2½
minutes into the game, but
Shumway scored again in
transition to put Lovell up
10-2, and the Lady Bulldogs
went on to lead 13-8 after the
first quarter.
Rocky cut the lead to
three, 13-10, on a baseline
jumper by Brianna Hock-
er early in the second quar-
ter, but Leanne Winterhol-
ler drained a three-pointer
from the top of the key to put
Lovell up 16-10. Later in the
quarter, a trey by Hannah
Winland cut the lead to three
again, 18-15, but the Lady
Grizz cooled off and went
about five minutes without
scoring. Lovell didn't exactly
light it up, setting for lots of
outside jumpers, but a long J
by Winterholler and, later, a
baseline jumper by Chelsey
Ellis and a trey by Geiser
boosted the Lovell lead to
25-15 before a follow shot
by Shauna Loman kept the
Lady Grizz in the ballgame
at halftime, 25-17.
"We quit attacking and
settled for outside shots," Ed-
wards said. "We weren't put-
ting pressure on the defense."
Lovell asserted control of
the game in the third quar-
ter, launching an 11-1 run
to boost the lead to 36-18.
Winterholler scored 5 points
during the run, Shumway
and Robertson 3 each. Lovell
went on to lead 37-20 at the
quarter break.
"We had a pretty good
first half against Lovell, but
the third quarter hurt us for
the most part," said Boettch-
er. "The bottom line about
Lovell is that they are a
good team, and you can't go
out against a good team and
make too many mistakes like
we did in this game. We got
stagnant and weren't doing
the things we needed to do,
especially in the third quar-
ter. Luckily, we .had a bet-
ter fourth and I think that
helped us to bring our score
up a little in the end. Sixteen
points seems like a lot, but
when you look at it in terms
of the overall game it's only
PATTI CARPENTER
Mandee Leonhardt (1) chases Alyssa Geiser down the court during the game
played on Thursday night between Lovell and RMHS.
eight baskets."
Boettcher thought the
team was "a little tentative"
in their offense in the third
quarter, which hurt the
team's ability to score.
A move and jumper
by Shumway boosted the
Lovell lead to 19 points,
39-20, early in the fourth
period, but the Lady Grizz
had some fight left, ripping
off an 11-2 run to close the
gap to 10, 41-31. Rachael
Allred made a move for a
bank shot, Loman drilled a
trey and Wilson hit two free
throws, then scored on an
in-bound play.
After the Wilson buck-
et, the Grizz immediately
called time out with 2:40
to play and set up full-
court pressure. The Grizz
got a free-throw miss out
of the Lady Bulldogs, but
the Lovell five also played
solid defense and Rocky
didn't score again. Baskets
by Shumway on a feed from
Walker, Geiser on a steal
and Shumway on an assist
from Geiser boosted the fi-
nal margin to 16, 47-31.
"They're a solid team,"
Edwards said. "They're not
going to turn the ball over
a lot. We had opportunities
and just some shots, too.
"Defensively, we played
a straight-up man and chal-
lenged everything they
did. We held them to three
points in the third quar-
ter and no field goals. We
were putting on more ball
pressure and contesting
every pass. They weren't
able to get the ball inside
when they wanted it, and
Erin did a good job trying to
front Kallee."
"I thought the defensive
part of things went well; I
think we kept track of ev-
erybody really well," said
Boettcher. "Lovell is defi-
nitely the most complete
team, top to bottom, that
we've faced all season.
"Lovell is the number
one team right now and de-
servedly so. They are play-
ing good basketball and
have a lot of talent on their
team."
Amanda Shumway
led the Lady Bulldogs
with 16 points and five re-
bounds. Winterholler added
10 points and six assists,
Geiser 7 points, Robertson
5 points and five steals.
Wilson scored 13
points for the Lady Grizz,
Loman 9.
The box score:
LOVELL (47)
Alyssa Geiser 3 0-0 7, Jodi Walker
1 0-1 2, Leanne Winterholler 4 0-0
10, Kim Shumway 2 0-1 4, Amanda
Shumway 7 1-1 16, Chelsey Ellis
1 0-0 2, Erin Robertson 2 1-1 5,
Miranda Griffis 0 1-2 1. Totals 20
3-6 47.
ROCKY (31)
Mandee Leonhardt 1 0-0 2, Brianna
Hocker 1 0-0 2, Karli Leonhardt 0
0-4 0, Rachael AIIred 1 0-0 2, Kallee
Wilson 4 5-6 13, Hannah Winland
1 0-0 3, Shauna Loman 4 0-0 9,
Isabel Gurrola 0 0-0 0. Totals 12
5-10 31.
Lovell 13 12 12 10-47
Rocky 8 9 3 11- 31
Three-point field goals - Winter-
holler 2, Geiser 1, A. Shumway
1; Wintand 1, Loman 1. Fouled
out - none. Total fouls - Lovel112,
Rocky 14.
