GHS teams hit reset as seasons resume

Wrestlers head to Lovell, hoop teams host first home games

Seven weeks.  That’s all that stands between Greybull High School athletes and their most important tests of the year — for the wrestlers, it’s the State 2A Wrestling Championships in Casper, and for the round-ballers, the win-two-before-you-lose-two Class 2A West Regional in Riverton.
With the holidays in the rearview, all three teams return to action later this week, hoping to start the new year in a positive way.
Here’s a look at where each team stands heading into January.
Wrestling
Prior to shutting it down for the holidays, Greybull-Riverside competed at a Dec. 19 dual in Powell, facing a 3A Panther team.  The Panthers emerged with the win, but G-R was competitive and won several contested matches.
Loomis Alexander, Bennett Sanford, Ty Strohschein and Reece Whisenant earned victories for G-R. Whisenant’s, which took the form of a 14-5 decision, was particularly noteworthy because his opponent had pinned him twice earlier in the season.
In the early stages of the season, Coach Nuttall cited his team’s depth as a reason to be optimistic about its chances down the stretch. That depth shows up in the latest rankings at wyowrestling.com, where six G-R boys and one girl are listed among 2A’s best.
Alexander, a Riverside sophomore, occupies the highest spot as he’s ranked second at 138 and trails only Braydun Terry, a junior from Moorcroft.
Ty Strohshein, a Riverside senior, is ranked third at 190.  On paper, the ruler of the division is Wyatt Trembly. The Dubois senior is a two-time state champion, with his most recent title coming at the expense G-R’s Jake Schlattmann last February.  Zack Murphy of Big Piney is ranked second.
Erik Rosales, a Greybull senior, is ranked fifth at 215, where Rosendo Garcia of Lovell holds the top ranking.  
Curtis Strohschein, a Riverside junior, also holds down the fifth-place spot at 285, which is headed by Christian Reilly at No. 1 and James Lovell of Lovell at No. 2.
Whisenant, another Riverside junior, is ranked sixth at 144. The top wrestler at the weight is Kaleb Brothwell of Lingle-Fort Laramie.
Caiden Sorenson, a Greybull sophomore, is the team’s sixth wrester to earn a ranking on the poll.  He sits in seventh at 150 pounds.  Trenton Sheehan, a Moorcroft senior, is the top-ranked wrestler at the weight.
On the girls side, Elizabeth Holloway, a Greybull freshman, is ranked fourth at 140 pounds. Paityn Covolo of Sheridan own’s the top spot.
G-R will compete at the Big Horn County Dual Championships Friday in Lovell. Start time is 5 p.m.  That will be followed by a trip to the Shoshoni Invitational on Saturday. Beyond that is a trip to Pavilion the following weekend for the Don Runner Invitational.
“We’ve got such a big January ahead of us,” said Nuttall, mentioning that nearly every team from the 2A West will be in either Shoshoni or Pavilion or both. “We’ll have a good idea where we stand after these next two tournaments.”
Boys basketball
After spending December on the road, Greybull varsity and junior varsity boys and girls basketball teams will finally get to play on their home court this weekend, with games on tap against Wyoming Indian Friday at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. and against St. Stephens on Saturday at noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m.
A rugged December schedule that saw them face highly regarded opponents at tournaments in Wright, Glenrock and Dayton left both Greybull varsity teams with 1-7 overall records, but the good news is, the most important games on their schedules have yet to be played.
Both teams open conference play Jan. 19 against Rocky Mountain.
The top priority for the Greybull boys is to get their offense in gear.  The Buffs currently rank last among all 2A teams in shooting percentage, connecting on 29% of their attempts, and their 14th in scoring, averaging 42.1 points per game.  
“We added some new offensive principles to our motion offense during the break in the hopes of getting that turned around,” said Coach Logan Burningham. “The way we see it, we have two more weeks, about five games, that we’ll be treating as practice to get us ready for the start of conference play.”
On the plus side, the Buffs are among the top free-throw shooting teams in 2A, connecting on 61% of their tries. Carlos Rodriguez, a senior, was among the 2A leaders in several categories heading into the holidays, ranking second in rebounding (10.9 rpg), fifth in scoring (18.6 ppg), fifth in free-throw percentage (78%) and sixth in steals (3.1 spg).
As for this weekend’s home games, Burningham said his team has proven that it can play with Wyoming Indian. “The first time we played them (at the Foothills Classic), it was tight through three quarters and halfway through the fourth before they pushed it out to double digits and then held on.”
“They are a top-three team in the state ... and have good size, length and speed. The key is, we can’t turn the ball over. When you do, the pace gets turned up and they’re hard to beat playing that style. It needs to be slower, more deliberate pace.  We know that style can be effective against them.”
Girls basketball
The Greybull girls are also hoping to get on track as the second half of their season begins.
In December games, the Lady Buffs averaged 39.8 points scored (10th in 2A) and 49.8 points allowed (13th in 2A).  Diving deeper into the stats, the girls were among the top 3-point shooting teams in 2A, nailing 22.5% of their tries, but they were second from the bottom in free-throw shooting with a connect rate of 40%.
Perla Rodriguez made a strong first impression, as the freshman ranked first in blocked shots (3.1 per game) and eighth in rebounding (8.1 per game) in December action.
“We are looking forward to getting back to games this weekend,” Coach Jeff Hunt said. “The girls have been working hard over the break.”
He looks for a competitive game with the Lady Chiefs. “They will be tough as always,” said Hunt. “They’re very athletic and have a very deep bench. We played them well the last time we saw them and actually had a 13-point lead in the third quarter. We are looking to redeem ourselves. We have to slow their tempo down and be patient on offense. They love to get out and look for steals and will pressure us the entire 32 minutes. We are working to not let this affect us. If we can control the tempo like we did the last time we saw them, then we have a great shot.”
   Looking to Saturday’s game with St. Stephens, Coach Hunt noted that St. Stephens has always been difficult to scout this time of year. In an aside, he said WIHS beat St. Stephens, 92-11, over the holiday break, but that is no real indication as to what to expect when the Buffs meet them Saturday.
   “They’ll try to put a lot of pressure on us. We will need to spend a second game in a row controlling the tempo and making them play our game.”  Unlike WIHS, St. Stephens doesn’t have a lot of depth.
“We are hoping to get over the hump early after the break. We have been competitive with almost everyone we have played. And we have one of the most difficult schedules this year. Our schedule doesn’t get any easier the next two weeks.”