Lady Wolves win last Conference game, first in their quad

The Lady Wolves played the annual Make-A-Wish basketball game against the Rock Springs Lady Tigers last Thursday. Green River took the lead in the first quarter, outscoring Rock Springs 22-13. In the second quarter the Lady Wolves fell behind, letting Rock Springs score 17 points to their four points. Head Coach Rick Carroll said the girls came out strong but didn't play very well defensively and got too impatient offensively. It was a tight third quarter, with Green River scoring 11 points and Rock Springs scoring 13 points. Green River tried to make a comeback in the fourth quarter but fell short, scoring 12 points, which wasn't enough to take control of the game. Green River lost to Rock Springs 52-49.

Leading the team was Jayla Braden with 11 points, along with Isabel Vasco and Madison Moffat with 10 points each. Ella Stanton had nine rebounds, Jayla Braden and Ella Stanton had six steals each and Stanton had six assists.

Green River played their last conference game against the Star Valley Braves on Friday. Star Valley came out strong in the first quarter, scoring 14 points to Green River's 6 points. The second quarter, Green River scored 22 points, taking the lead away from the Braves. The Lady Wolves only allowed the Braves to score four points. Green River had an impressive third quarter, scoring another 22 points to Star Valley's 13 points. The fourth quarter was intense. Star Valley tried taking the lead, scoring 24 points to Green River's six points, but fell short by one point. It was a victorious game for the Lady Wolves, beating the Lady Braves 56-55 and setting them up for first-place in their quad for Regionals.

"I think the biggest problem is we just didn't take good care of the ball in the second half and gave them opportunities to get some easy baskets because we threw the ball away or we turned the ball over," explained Coach Carroll. "That's something we are going to work on to get ready for regionals."

Leading the team was Isabel Vasco with 13 points, along with Madison Moffat and Addison Demaret with 12 points each. Demaret had an amazing game with 13 rebounds, along with Jayla Braden who had four steals and Ella Stanton with four assists.

The Lady Wolves have really come together as a team. Most of the girls are younger, with the team only having one senior this year. They have shown so much improvement during the season and are learning what they need to do as a team to win games. Coach Carroll thinks they have learned a lot of good basketball and a lot of good lessons and they've played a lot of really good quarters throughout the course of the season.

"We just haven't put together full games at this point," said Coach Carroll. "We're going to see if we can get a 32-minute game in the next three days."

Preparing for regionals, they are going to focus on playing tough defense, working on their press and being pressed.

"We need to really focus and be ready to play," added Coach Carroll.

The 4A West Regional basketball games begin in Star Valley today. Green River will play the Riverton Wolverines at 9 a.m., the Rock Springs Tigers will play the Evanston Red Devils at 10:30 a.m., the Cody Fillies will play the Jackson Broncs at 3 p.m. and the Star Valley Braves will play the Kelly Walsh Trojans at 4:30 p.m. The winner and loser brackets will continue through Friday and Saturday. The championship game is set to take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday.