GMS teams off to solid starts

Greybull Middle School athletes have been learning the fundamentals in practice and seeing their hard work pay off in games during the early stages of the girls basketball season.
Becky Eichelberger, Tami Wright and Jamie Keisel are coaching the 24 girls who play on eighth-, seventh- and sixth-grade teams.
The eighth graders include Avery Allen, Ashlyn Chacon, Addison Coscarelli, Natalie Diaz-Rios, Fallon Hoffman, Caitlyn Hunt, Shelby Hunt, Adeline Kunkel and Angela Myers.
Lovely Araiza, Joey Boyer, Kaylee Cervantes, Josie Collingwood, Wendy Garcia, Ella Keisel, Makinli Mowery and Reagan Vigil are the seventh graders.
Rounding out the squad are sixth graders Mia Aguilar, Kimberly Diaz-Rios, Amelia Emmett, Julie Garcia, Selena Mendez, Lyddia Rios-Munoz and Josey Whaley.
While no stats are being kept, all three of the coaches had good things to say about their young teams.
Eighth grade
The eighth graders got off to a fast start, dominating Riverside 36-7 and beating Ten Sleep 22-13 before hitting a rough patch that saw them lose three in a row to Burlington 15-2, Shoshoni 39-8 and Rocky Mountain 21-8.
“The first few games we were able to get up and down the floor pretty quickly, seeing our teammates and making the layups,” said Eichelberger. “The following games made us set up our offense and work on being patient to wait for the open shot or a teammate.  Defensively, the girls have done a great job stopping the ball and on help-side defense. 
“We are heading into the second half of our season, with a few adjustments to what we are already doing, I’m looking forward to seeing what the girls can do on the court.” 
Seventh Grade
Wright said she’s been impressed by her group of seventh graders, saying they “give it their all when they step out onto the court ... are improving and working hard in practice.”
They won four straight to open the season, beating Riverside 47-6, Burlington 40-20, Shoshoni 26-13 and Rocky 20-14.  
The seventh graders were scheduled to square off for a second time with Riverside on Nov. 2, but the opportunity instead went to the sixth graders, who dropped a tough 16-14 decision.
“They played hard and we saw improvement in them,” said Wright.
Sixth grade
Prior to that, the sixth graders hadn’t seen much competitive action, losing a road game in Burlington, 25-18, on Oct. 24 and a home game to Shoshoni, 25-12, on Oct. 26.
“We have played teams that only have enough girls to play two games,” said Keisel. “Our sixth graders have been joining with the seventh grade team to have a few games.   
“One standout that I can think of is when we went to Burlington and had one player foul out, had one get hurt, and one out because of sickness, the Burlington coach let us play with four players at the end of the game.  They had one of their girls out on the court but not really playing to make it more fair for us.  I thought that was an excellent example of sportsmanship from them.”
Schedule
GMS is scheduled to play at Ten Sleep on Friday, Nov. 10.
Game times are 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.