CHR
S
February 16, 2012 I The Lovell Chronicle I 9
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain junior guard Shane Wocicki drives for one of
this three consecutive baskets in the third quarter of Rocky's
dramatic 51-49 win over the Greybull Buffs Friday night
in Cowley. The Grizzlies travel to Lovell for a 7 p.m. tip-off
tonight (Thursday).
Sports
Calendar
Thursday, Feb. 16
HS indoor track - Lovell at Simplot
Games, Pocatello, Idaho
HS girls basketball - Rocky at Lovell,
4, 5:30 p.m.
HS boys basketball - Rocky at Lovell,
4, 7 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 17
HS indoor track - Lovell at Simplot
Games, Pocatello, Idaho
HS wrestling - Regional tournament
in Shoshoni, 4 p.m.
MS girls basketball - Rocky at conf.
tourney, Meeteetse, TBA
Saturday, Feb. 18
HS wrestling - Regional tournament
in Shoshoni, 9 a.m.
HS indoor track - Lovell at Simplot
Games, Pocatello, Idaho
MS girls basketball - Rocky at conf.
tourney, Meeteetse, TBA
MS girls basketball - Lovell 7 th at
conf. tourney, Powell, TBA
MS girls basketball - Lovell 8 th at
conf. tourney, Cody, TBA
MS wrestling - Conference meet in
Cowley, TBA
HS girls basketball--Rocky at Big
Horn, 12, 1:30 p.m.
HS boys basketball - Rocky at Big
Horn, 12, 3 p.m.
Women's college bb - Colorado State
at Wyoming, 2 p.m.
Jr. college women's bb - Miles
Community Col. at NWC, 3 p.m.
Jr. college men's bb - Miles
Community Col. at NWC, 5 p.m.
HS girls basketball - Lovell at
Thermopolis, 4, 5:30 p.m.
HS boys basketball- Lovell at
Thermopolis, 4, 7 p.m.
Men's college bb - Wyoming at
Colorado State, 7 (The Mtn.)
Tuesday, Feb. 21
Women's college bb - San Diego
State at Wyoming, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 22
Men's college bb - Wyoming at San
Diego St., 8:30 (The Mtn.)
Thursday, Feb. 23
HS girls basketball - Regional
Tournament, Riverton, TBA
HS boys basketball- Regional
Tournament, Riverton, TBA
Friday, Feb. 24
HS wrestling - State tournament in
Casper, 9 a.m.
HS girls basketball - Regional
Tournament, Riverton, TBA
HS boys basketball- Regional
Tournament, Riverton, TBA
Standings
BOYS 2A NORTHWEST
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Lovell 5 1 15 3
Rocky Mtn. 5 2 8 11
Greybull 5 3 15 7
Riverside 2 5 8 10
Thermopolis 0 6 2 19
RESULTS
Friday, February 10
Lovell 68, Riverside 50
Rocky 51, Greybull 49
Saturday, February 11
Riverside 41, Rocky 35
Greybull 64, Big Horn 54
Thermopolis 57, Shoshoni 54
Lovell 76, Worland 45
SCHEDULE
Thursday, February 16
Rocky at Lovell, 4, 7 p.m.
Friday, February 17
T. River at Greybull, 4, 5:30 p.m.
Riverside at Thermop, 4, 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 18
Rocky at Big Horn, 12, 3 p.m.
Burlington at Riverside, 12, 3 p.m.
Lovell at Thermop, 4, 7 p.m.
Monday, February 20
Regional play-in game, TBA
Thermopolis vs. Riverside
Thursday, February 23
Regional Tournament, Rivet'ton
GIRLS 2A NORTHWEST
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Lovell 6 0 17 1
Rocky Mtn. 5 2 12 7
Thermopolis 4 2 13 8
Riverside 1 6 3 16
Greybull 1 7 5 16
RESULTS
Friday, February 10
Lovell 62, Riverside 30
Rocky 42, Greybull 26
Saturday, February 11
Big Horn 51, Greybull 41
Shoshoni 50, Thermopolis 37
Rocky 45, Riverside 30
Lovell 50, Worland 39
SCHEDULE
Thursday, February 16
Rocky at Lovell, 4, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, February 17
Riverside at Thermop, 4, 5:30 p.m.
T. River at Greybull, 4, 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 18
Rocky at Big Horn, 12, 1:30 p.m.
Burlington at Riverside, 1:30, 4:30
p.m.
Lovell at Thermop, 4, 5:30 p.m.
Monday, February 20
Regional play-in game, TBA
Riverside vs. Greybull
Thursday, February 23
Regional Tournament, Riverton
Grizz win thriller over
Greybull, fall to Riverside
BY DAVID PECK
In perhaps the most excit-
ing game of the season so far,
the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies
stopped the Greybull Buffaloes
for the second time this season
Friday night at the RMHS Gym
in Cowley, 51-49, boosting their
Five Rivers Conference record to
5-1, even with the Lovell Bull-
dogs.
Saturday, however, perhaps
experiencing an inevitable let-
down and playing in a difficult
venue, the Grizz fell to the Riv-
erside Rebels in Basin, 41-35, to
fall to 5-2 in the conference, 8-11
overall.
Friday's win did clinch second
place for the Grizz, however, and
the home team did it in dramatic
fashion.
"We match up OK with
Greybull," coach Michael Sim-
mons said. "Their strength is
in their guards. And sometimes
you've got a team's number.
There are things they do that we
prepared for."
Simmons said coaches no-
ticed that Greybull has been us-
ing its "wheel offense" that the
Buffs utilize from time to time,
where guards penetrate and ei-
ther take the ball to the basket or
kick it out for open shots.
"They had success with that
dribble penetration against
Lovell; they've always had that
offense (in their arsenal)," Sim-
mons said. "We played man un-
derneath but switched everything
on top, which prevents all of that
chasing. We feel very comfortable
with any of our three, four and
five guards (as defenders).
"They got very frustrated
very quickly because they'd had
so much success against Lovell."
Playing his last home game
in a Grizzly uniform, senior De-
rik Romero lit it up early for the
Grizzlies, hitting three first-quar-
ter treys as the Grizzlies led 16-
10 after one.
"As the lone senior we gave
him the green light to have a good
time," Simmons said. "It was a big
game, but we wanted to do what
we could do to let Derik have a big
night."
In the second quarter, Ka-
son Clutter found some success
against the Grizzlies, scoring
6 points as the Buffs outscored
the Grizz 14-10, leaving Rocky
up 26-24 at intermission. Rocky
would have had a bigger lead but
missed seven of eight free-throw
attempts, a condition that would
plague the Grizz all night.
In the third, Greybull further
cut into the Rocky lead with an
11-10 advantage, and the game
was tied at 26, 28 and 30. Shane
Wocicki scored three straight
buckets, and then Bryce Ward ex-
ecuted a power reverse layup and
Bill Despain hit Joey Jewell for
two as Rocky built a 36-30 lead. A
steal and layup by Wyatt Good ig-
nited a 5-0 Greybull spurt as the
Buffs closed the margin to one at
the quarter break, 36-35.
A seven-minute scoring
drought for the Grizz lasted into
the fourth quarter as Greybull
built a 42-37 lead, and Simmons
called timeout with 3:14 left in
the game.
"We were settling for outside
shots instead of letting the of-
fense work to get better shots," he
said. "We recommitted to the lit-
tle things that made us success-
ful. I said we had plenty of time
- there is no five-point play - but
we were getting some stops. We
just needed to reassert ourselves
and get to the backboard, where
we were successful."
Romero hit one of two free
throws with 3:03 to play, and then
the senior drained a clutch three-
pointer to cut the Greybull lead to
one, 42-41. Austin Frazier scored
in transition for the Buffs, but
Ward scored on a baseline drive
and Bernhisel hit one of two tech-
nical foul shots following a BuffT.
Bernhisel hit two more free
throws, and after Nell Getzfreid
answered for Greybull, Bernhis-
el slashed to the basket for two
to put the Grizz up 48-46 with a
minute left. Getzfreid hit one of
two at the line, and after a Clut-
ter steal, Getzfreid hit a jumper
that put the Buffs up 49-48.
In the final 20 seconds Ber-
nhisel hit two of two at the line
to put Rocky up 50-49, Clutter
missed at the line for Greybull
and Ward hit one of two for
Rocky. After an exchange of turn-
overs, Greybull tried a lob play for
Getzfreid inside, but the ball went
over his head and was gloved by
Bernhisel to preserve the victory.
"Michael Bernhisel found the
zone in the fourth quarter," Sim-
mons said. "You try to convince
players to just play the game and
not get caught up in the crowd
and the noise. Michael was in
tune. You could see it in his eyes.
"The kids played hard. Coach-
es talk about Xs and Os, but the
kids have got to do it. We made
some shots in the the fourth quar-
ter, and we played pretty good de-
fense throughout the game."
Romero finished with a game-
high 14 points, and Bernhisel had
10 points, eight rebounds, five as-
sists and four steals. Wocicki and
Ward added 8 points each, Jew-
ell 5 points, Cannon Simmons 4
points and four assists and Kir-
by Winland 2 points and a game-
high 10 rebounds.
The box score:
GREYBULL (49)
Payton Gonzales 0 1-2 1, Austin Frazier
3 0-0 6, Wyatt Good 2 2-3 6, Kason Clut-
ter 6 1-3 13, Quinton Haley 1 0-0 2, Travis
Sylvester 2 0-2 4, Nell Getzfreid 3 1-2 7,
Hayden Goton 4 0-t 8, Brady Schoemaker
1 0-0 2. Totals 22 5-13 49.
ROCKY (51)
Michael Bernhisel 2 5-6 10, Shane Wocicki
4 0-2 8, Joey Jewell 2 1-5 5, Bill Despain 0
0-0 0, Kirby Winland 1 0-7 2, Derik Romero
4 2-6 14, Cannon Simmons 2 0-0 4, Bryce
Ward 3 1-3 8. Totals 18 9-29 51.
Greybull 10 14 11 14-49
Rocky 16 10 10 15-51
Three-point field goals - Romero 4, Bernhis-
el 1. Fouled out- Sylvester, Goton; Winland.
Total fouls - Greybull 22, Rocky 17.
ROAD LOSS
It was, perhaps, inevitable
that the Grizzlies would suffer a
letdown Saturday following the
emotional win the night before,
and that was, indeed, the case,
Simmons said, as the Grizz strug-
gled against the Riverside Rebels
during a 41-35 loss in Basin.
"We talked about the letdown
and tried to avoid it coming off
a game like that," he said. "We
talked about having to create our
own energy. We went up early,
and then they just started pound-
ing it into (Brynnt) Wood. We got
caught up trying to change stuff
and improvise and we abandoned
our responsibilities in order to
stop Wood. He got his points, but
you can't abandon what makes
you successful."
Wood, the big senior center,
scored 11 first-quarter points as
the Rebels led 16-9 after the first
quarter, and he added two more
buckets in the second as River-
side built the lead to 32-21 at
half time.
See RIZZ GUYS,' page 10
Lady Grizz roar this week
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The RMHS girls basketball team took on Greybull
at home on Friday night and prevailed 42-26. The girls
started off steady and held their ground all four quar-
ters.
"Everybody stepped up in this game and pretty
much everyone who played scored some points. We
switched up our defense to manage our legs a little
bit, we created pressure to create turnovers, and did
a good job of not turning the ball over to them," said
coach Ryan Boettcher.
Kallee Jo Wilson was the top scorer with 11
points. Mikayla Hocker scored 9, Mandee Leon-
hardt 6, Rachael Allred and Brianna Hocker 5 each,
Hannah Winland 4 and Isabel Gurrola 2.
The girls established themselves early on and
maintained the lead every quarter of the game.
Boettcher thought Greybull was a "very physical
bunch" and he was pleased with how well the Lady
Grizz handled the pressure.
"It was one of those weekends where we felt like
we were in control of the games," said Boettcher.
The girls also played an away game with Riv-
erside in Basin, Saturday, winning 45-30. Again,
the girls came on strong, maintaining a lead of 13-6
after the first quarter. They held on to that edge
throughout, staying ahead in all four quarters.
Wilson was again the top scorer with 22 points,
and Shauna Loman added 7, Allred 6, Leonhardt,
Hocker and Winland 2 apiece.
"We were able to establish Kallee and she played
a good game for us," said Boettcher.
Again, Boettcher thought the girls clicked as a
team during the game.
"We had good ball movement, we were patient
and we didn't try to force shots," said Boettcher.
"The girls were playing good, solid basketball this
weekend. They looked out for each other and every-
one was involved."
The girls have another big week ahead where
they will face Lovell, the number one team in the
state, on Thursday night in Lovell with game times
of 4 and 5:30 p.m. This will be the last conference
game of the season for the Lady Grizz.
"We know they're a good solid team and there
won't be any pulling away from them," said Boettch-
er. "We just hope to stay in there and play the best
we can."
PATti CARPENTER
Brianna Hocker reaches for a basket at the
game played against Greybull on Feb. 10 at
RMHS.
They will travel to Big Horn for an away game
on Saturday with game times of noon and 1:30 p.m.
"We had a great game with them when they
were here last time," said Boettcher. "This will be
a tough road game and a great way to finish off our
road season."
