Lady Wolves are ready for new basketball season

The Lady Wolves Basketball team is ready to start their season after having a really good offseason over the past year. The ladies have been focused on getting stronger and faster on the court.

The Green River High School opens up their weight room for the students to stay in shape during their summer break, and a lot of the students take advantage of the opportunity.

During the month of June, the team members also played in several tournaments, including a tournament in Manila, Utah; one at the Utah Valley University; and the yearly Colorado Mesa University camp. Some of the athletes then move on to other sports such as volleyball, softball and soccer to finish off their summer, but the open gyms for basketball still gave them the chance to come in and do some shooting.

"I think we had a really productive June and we played pretty well," explained Head Coach Rick Carroll. "We figured out how to do a lot of the things we needed to work on and we figured out how our team was going to look. I thought we played pretty well in all of the venues. We played some tough competition and I feel it went well for us."

For the Lady Wolves, it will be a different year for them than they anticipated. Their point guard, Jayla Braden, tore her ACL and is unable to play this season. Braden was a returning All-Conference and All-State player, so the team is feeling her loss.

"We are trying to figure out how we're going to play without her and all of the other girls that are going to step up in that position where they will now play varsity," said Coach Carroll.

The team's first practice started on Monday, and they are confident in moving forward and figuring out the different dynamics for this year. The ladies are focusing on their offensive and defensive moves and making sure everybody knows what they are expected to do and where they need to be on the court. They will be working on some different kinds of ideas for defense this year. Returning senior players are Ella Stanton, Madison Moffat, Brianna Strauss and Jayla Braden, along with some juniors, sophomores and around 13 incoming freshmen.

Coach Carroll feels that one of the team's strengths this year is their speed.

"I think our team is pretty quick," he explained. "I think we have pretty good ball skills, we catch well, we have good mechanics when we shoot, and I think we have some of those basketball skills that are really important."

He also feels that overall as a team the ladies get along really well and they are a taller team than he has seen in Green River in quite some time.

The coaches are also excited about the number of freshmen who have joined the team. The new girls are really working hard, which is what the coaches feel is important. They are pleased with the girls' work ethic so far and look forward to getting to know them.

The Lady Wolves will start off their season traveling to Casper to play in the Oil City Tip-off Tournament next Thursday, Friday and Saturday.