GMS girls hoop teams showing steady improvement early going

Some wins, some losses and a lot of learning along the way.  That about sums up the first few weeks of game action for the Greybull Middle School girls basketball program, which is under the direction this year of Becky Eichelberger, Tami Wright and Jamie Keisel.

The season began with an Oct. 25 tripleheader in Thermopolis and runs through the first week of December, culminating in conference tournaments and jamborees in Cowley and Burlington gymnasiums.

There are 25 girls on the roster, but as was the case in volleyball, the coaches opted to form A, B and C teams rather than the traditional eighth-, seventh- and sixth-grade squads.

The roster includes eighth graders Lovely Araiza, Joey Boyer, Reagan Vigil, Josie Collingwood, Kaylee Cervantes, Ella Keisel and Makinli Mowery; seventh graders Amelia Emmett, Josey Whaley, Selena Mendez, Tahlia Averett, Giana Fajardo, Liddia Rios, Mia Aguilar and Kimberly Diaz-Rios and sixth graders Christina Lopez, Xiomara Rodriguez, Paisley Link, Ruby Dalin, Peytin Cervantes, Bryndle Cunningham, Darleh Rios, Norah Thur and Emily Didrickson.

As of Tuesday, Eichelberger’s A team sported a 2-4 record.  The young Lady Buffs lost to Thermopolis 28-16 and Burlington 15-14 to begin the season before righting the ship to defeat Riverside 31-6 and Ten Sleep 22-11.

In their most recent action, the girls lost to Lovell 42-19 and Shoshoni 33-32 in overtime.

“The first few games gave us a realistic view of were our weaknesses are,” said Eichelberger. “We are focusing on keeping our defense moving with intensity and transitioning into scoring on offense.  

“With three weeks left in the season, it should be exciting to see how each team keeps pushing to excel on both ends of the court.” 

B team

The B team, under the direction of Wright, has followed the same path to a 2-4 record.  

The girls defeated Riverside, 22-21, and Ten Sleep, 30-18, but those victories were sandwiched between opening week losses to Thermopolis, 26-16, and Burlington, 32-5, and losses last week to Lovell, 35-11, and Shoshoni, 27-12.

Wright said she can see the improvement in her team every time it takes the floor. “We struggled finishing our layups and bunnies in this week’s games and let our opponents get multiple shots off offensive rebounds,” she said. “So that will be a focus in this week’s practices.”

C team

Keisel said she’s “excited to see what the next several weeks will look like” after opening the season with two wins and three losses.

 The young Lady Buffs own wins over Riverside, 18-10, and Lovell, 26-14, but have lost to Thermopolis, 16-10, Burlington, 20-6, and Shoshoni, 22-6, in the early going.

“We are learning a lot and really focusing on the fundamentals at this point,” said Keisel. “This is a fun group of girls and I’ve enjoyed seeing what they know and what we need to do to improve.  

“There is a big learning curve with learning the offense and learning to play defense well.  We are making progress.”