Middle school girls basketball action

Both the seventh and eighth grade middle school girls basketball teams have been really busy this past week with games against Worland, Lovell, Powell and Cody.

Head coach Ginger Ward said the girls are really improving and doing what they're asked.

"They bring joy to work with," Ward said. "I praise the young ladies working through soreness, tight muscles and frustrations!"

Against Worland on Oct. 30, the eighth grade A team lost, 13-40 as did the B team, 15-26.

Ward said Sadie Burr was the top rebounder for the A team, bringing down seven.

"We really saw Sadie's (Burr) defensive stance widen and was much improved," Ward said.

On the B team, the top rebounders were Brooklyn May and Brooklyn Cooley.

"Both these ladies stepped up and filled in important minutes in both games," Ward said. "Its fun to watch their improvement and confidence grow. On her birthday, Cooley's quick jump shots and beautiful follow through foreshadows some fancy shooting in her future. May gets to the hoop with a nice drive."

Nov. 2 the teams took on Lovell with the A team dropping the game 12-22 and the B team following with a 19-34 loss.

Top rebounder on the A team was Jayci Basse and Ruthanne Johnson had seven rebounds for the B team, making her the top rebounder.

Coach Ward said as a team, their first quarter defense stopped Lovell in their tracks.

"Jayci (Basse's) tenacity of fighting through screens drew admiration," she said. "As a team, we struggled with decision making, trying to get through their press and forgot to hit the boards hard. The second half showed our post starting to become more aggressive posting up."

On Saturday, the girls saw action against Powell and narrowed the gap a good deal, with the A team losing just 21-26 and the B team, 12-25.

Johnson had five rebounds for the A team while Cooley brought down eight for the B team.

Lexi Overfield, Burr and Riley Eldridge all had 50 percent shooter games, making half of the shots they took.

"These young ladies came charging back from a 16-6 deficit and made this a game with work and good passing decisions," Ward said. "Great shot selection by all the girls, we just need to square up a bit more."

The eighth graders also played Cody on Saturday. The A team lost to Cody 13-40 and the B team, 15-26.

Overfield was the top rebounder against Cody, with five and Cooley brought in eight on the B team. Sariaya Sosa, Eldridge and Johnson all had 50% shooter honors.

The A team came out strong and scored well in the first quarter.

"We showed streaks of how good we can be," Ward said, "but did not hold it together for the entire game. Passing decisions must improve to get us in the win column."

The B team was within one point with two minutes to go and again, passing decisions led them to some easy buckets.

"These young ladies played hard and with pride," Ward said. "I can't e brouder of them. Jade Anderson started sprinting back to play tough defense, while Riley (Eldridge) squared up on her shots and made them count."

The seventh grade teams have been working hard, too, but they are unfortunately missing girls at practice, so the emphasis is getting every girl there every day. Ward said attendance is key to improvement.

Against Worland, the seventh grade A team dropped the game 4-36 along with the B team, who lost 16-18.

Top rebounder against Worland for the A team was Kaitlin Barral and top rebounder for the B team was Xoey Rich.

Scores and stats are not available for their game against Lovell, but their focus was on sprinting back and protecting the basket.

"The young ladies definitely did this much better," Ward said. "They talked on defense and found their opponent after getting back. Kiyah Oliver does a great job of finding the basket and Kadence Bowman gave us great minutes in both the A and B games.

Taking on Powell last Saturday, the A team lost 17-47 and although the B team lost as well, theirs was a bit closer, just 10-20.

Sydney Shaffer and Dazzlyn Hunt were the top rebounders against Powell on the A team with Rich once again being the top rebounder on the B team. Hunt and Elizabeth Skelton were the 50 percent shooters against Powell.

Cody was next on the agenda with the A team falling behind 16-42 and the B team dropping the game, 6-16.

Barral was again the top rebounder for the A team with seven and Maggie Landon brought in five. Joely Mounts was top rebounder for the B team.

Barral was also the only 50 percent shooter for the A team against Cody.

"This wseek our focus is on getting into passing lanes," Ward said, "making better passing choices, and helping each other look better by coming to the pass. Both teams play Shoshoni today (Thursday) after school with the seventh graders playing first and then the eighth graders.