Lady Buffs seek consistency as conference season begins

Unfortunately, you can’t blame everything on the weather, and Coach Jeff Hunt, assessing the Greybull Lady Buffs’ two losses last weekend at the Big Horn Basin Classic, didn’t consider blaming anyone. His sole comment was, “We had another tough weekend. We struggled against the press and just couldn’t get anything going on offense.”

The Buffs fell to Thermopolis, 56-35, in Friday’s opener, and lost their second game to the Cody Bronc JV, 51-33. 

The Lady Bobcats pressed the Lady Buffs almost the entire game. “We had a difficult time with it. We couldn’t get into sync on offense because of their pressure,” Hunt said, addin that Thermop “did a great job on the boards and beat us up and down the court.” 

Hunt said Mataia Henderson “shot the ball well” and ended with 17 of Greybull’s points. Ashley Gomez was also in double digits with 10 points.

Greybull’s second opponent, the Cody JV team, was a late addition to the tournament, according to Hunt. The young Broncs “were fast and had a lot of depth.” Greybull stayed with them in the first half and were down just 20-15 at the break, the young Broncs pulled away in the second half, winning 51-33. 

“Once again the pressure got to us and we had a tough time in our half-court offense,” said Hunt. “They had fresh legs and it showed in the second half.”

Nearly every Greybull player saw action and 10 scored.  Henderson and Kennedy Craft each scored seven.

Looking ahead Hunt said the team needs to work on breaking the press and doing a better job handling pressure. “We will definitely be working on that this week before our first two conference games. I really think we have a good shot this week. We just need to put a whole game together and do a better job controlling our tempo.”

The Lady Buffs host Rocky Mountain Friday night in their conference opener and their will probably be a gym full of noisy fans cheering both teams. Saturday they’ll be travelling south to play Wind River. 

Thermop 15  16  17  8 - 56

Greybull     8  11    7  9 - 36

GREYBULL: Ashtyn Chapman 0 1-6 1; Mataia Henderson 4 6-6 17; Sarah Murph 0 1-2 1; Perla Rodriguez 1 0-0 2; Kennedy Craft 2 0-0 4; Ashley Gomez 4 2-2 10. Totals 11-43 10-16 36.

Cody JV  12  6  17  16 - 51

Greybull    7  8    6  12 - 33

GREYBULL:  Chapman 1 2-2 4; Henderson 3 0-2 7; Shayne Cheatham 1 0-0 3; Chaise Benasky  1 0-2 2; Marlee Henson 0 1-2 1; Murph 1 0-0 2; Rodriguez  1 1-4 3; Craft 3 1-4 7; Gomez 0 1-2 1; Camila Acuna  1 1-2 3.  Totals 12-37 7-20 33.