Lady Buffs seek breakthrough

What will it take for the Greybull Lady Buffs to break out of the slump that seems to be hanging over their heads? They have been working on breaking the press, trying to keep the tempo of the game to their advantage, and improving their rebounding on both ends of the court.
But they continue to struggle.
Those struggles proved costly last weekend as they opened the conference season with losses to Rocky Mountain, 47-28 Friday, in the friendly confines of the Buff Gym, and then got shot down by Wind River in Pavilion Saturday, 64-38.
Coach Jeff Hunt gave credit to the Lady Grizzlies saying, “They are a great team and they came out strong. They put a three-quarter-court trap on us that hurt. We had a difficult time getting the ball on our side of the court in the first half.”
The Buffs trailed 15-4 after one and 28-12 at the half, but did a much better job in the second half.
“Once we settled in, we were OK,” Hunt said, “but we spotted them too many first-half points.”
Hunt pointed out some plusses for his team, noting, “We did a better job getting the ball to our posts. We also broke their full-court press better.”
Perla Rodriguez  was praised. “She had a great game and was very physical inside. She fought hard with a very good rebounding team.” She ended the game with 10 points; Kennedy Craft and Camila Acuna scored six points each.
Coach Hunt said they knew the Wind River Cougars would be a tough opponent.  “They are playing really well and are one of the ‘press teams’ in 2A right now.”
Hunt said his team played the Lady Cougars well in the first half. “We broke the press well early and got some good looks, but nothing was falling early in the game,” he said. But once the Buffs settled in, they did much better. “We had good ball movement, but we tried to force too many passes into the key. We were down eight points at the half, but it was all Wind River after that.”
The Cougars attacked the key well and got too many easy layups, he explained.
“We didn’t get back on defense, and Wind River took advantage of that,” he said.
Senior Kennedy Craft had a double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. “She worked the boards and it helped her to score some second-chance points for us,” said Hunt.
What has been the focus in practices? Hunt said they “are working on a lot of little things that will help us to start winning these games. We are right there and we have all the tools needed to finish these games. We just need to put it all together.”
The Lady Buffs get another chance to notch a conference win Friday night as they take on the Lady Blue in Shoshoni.
“We are hoping we can get a big win,” Hunt said.
He described the Lady Blue as a “young, aggressive team. They do a great job slowing teams down on offense, but they aren’t scoring a lot of points. Hopefully we can use our size to get the ball inside and get our offense back to where it needs to be.”
Saturday the Buffs host the Tongue River Lady Eagles in a non-conference match.    
     
Rocky          15  13  8  11 - 47
Greybull          4    8  6  10 - 28   
GREYBULL — Jasmine Rodriguez 0-1 0-0 0, Ashtyn Chapman 0-1 2-2 2, Mataia Henderson 1-7 0-0 2, Shayne Cheatham 0-1 0-0 0, Chaise Benasky 0-4 0-0 0, Sherlyn Diaz-Rios 1-2 0-0 2, Perla Rodriguez 4-5 2-2 10, Kennedy Craft 3-13 0-0 6, Ashley Gomez 0-3 0-0 0, Camila Acuna 3-3 0-1 6. Totals 12-40 4-7 28.
REBOUNDS — Greybull 36 (Craft 7);  STEALS — Greybull 11 (Benasky 3);  ASSISTS — Greybull 8 (Acuna 3);  TURNOVERS — Greybull 34.
Wind River        15  10  27  12 - 64
Greybull          9    8    8  13 - 38
GREYBULL:  Jasmine Rodriguez 0-1 0-0 0, Ashtyn Chapman 1-3 2-2 2, Mataia Henderson 3-9 0-1 6, Angie Atilano 1-2 0-0 2, Chaise Benasky 0-2 0-0 0, Sherlyn Diaz-Rios 0-1 2-2 2, Perla Rodriguez 3-7 2-2 8, Kennedy Craft 6-17 5-6 18, Ashley Gomez 0-4 0-0 0, Camila Acuna 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 14-46 9-11 38.
3-POINT GOALS  Craft;  REBOUNDS — Greybull 36 (Craft 13);  STEALS — Greybull 9 (Chapman 3);  ASSISTS — Greybull 7 (Chapman 3);  TURNOVERS — Greybull 34.