Lady Buffs show potential at recent Foothills Classic

The Greybull Lady Buffs roll into the new year and their Saturday afternoon matchup at Buff Gym against Wind River with a 2-5 record following their recent appearances at the Coal Miner’s, Herder and Foothills classics in December.

The girls went 1-3 during their opening weekend and 1-2 at the Foothills, easily handling Moorcroft 59-34 and then losing a 41-40 heart-breaker to Wright before taking one on the chin against Tongue River by a score of 62-28.

Coach Jeff Hunt called the Moorcroft contest “a great team game for us” adding, “We got to work on some newer things both offensively and defensively and pushed the ball up quickly.”

Perla Rodriguez was dominant for the Lady Buffs, scoring 26 point and grabbing nine rebounds.

“They had no answer for her under the basket,” said Hunt.

The Lady Buffs outscored the Wolves 20-5 in the first quarter and shot 43% from the field.

“We were very patient when we didn’t transition and did a great job playing inside out basketball,” said Hunt. “The girls really bought into what we have been working on and it showed in this game.”

The Wright game showed the potential of the Lady Buffs.  Twelve points separated the teams when they played at the Coal Miner’s Classic.  The rematch could have gone either way, as Wright started fast, led by seven after one and eventually pushed it to double digits before the Lady Buffs clawed their way back, completely erasing the deficit and building an eight-point lead of their own.

“We lost a five-point lead with under a minute left,” said Hunt. “They hit a late three and some free throws. We had an opportunity to win, but couldn’t make our shots from the line when we needed them.  We learned a lot about ourselves in this game.  We saw moments of us being a really good team.  We will surprise some teams down the road.” 

In their final game of the tournament, the Lady Buffs fell victim to a hot-shooting Tongue River team. The Eagles connected on 50% of their field goal shots in the first quarter, building a 23-10 lead, and never looked back, winning by 34.

“We did not shoot well and had a lot of costly turnovers early with their ball pressure,” said Hunt.

Saturday’s games against Wind River — the JV plays at noon, varsity at 1:30 p.m. — are nonconference affairs.  Greybull’s first conference game is a Friday, Jan. 24 game against Rocky Mountain.

Greybull 20 12 12 15 — 59

Moorcroft   5 10 12   7 — 34

GREYBULL — Mataia Henderson 1 0-0 2, Camila Acuna 3 0-1 6, Shayne Cheatham 5 1-4 12, Perla Rodriguez 12 2-2 26, Marlee Henson 2 2-2 4, Sherlyn Diaz-Rios 3 0-0 6, Jasmine Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Mya Oatman 1 0-0 2, Wyatt Whaley 0 0-0 0.  Totals 27-of-63 4-5 59.

3-POINT GOALS — Cheatham.   REBOUNDS — Greybull 38 (P Rodriguez 9).  STEALS — Greybull 18 (Cheatham 5).  ASSSISTS — Greybull 18 (Acuna 5).  TURNOVERS — GREYBULL 19.

Greybull   4 13 8 15 — 40

Wright 11 15 2 13 — 41

GREYBULL — Henderson 0 0-2 0, Henson 3 0-3 6, Rodriguez 6 0-1 12, Acuna 4-6 1-4 9, Cheatham 1 3-4 5, Diaz-Rios 1 0-1 2, J Rodriguez 1 0-0 2, Whaley 1 0-0 2, Oatman 1 0-0 2. Totals 18-of-50 4-of-15 40.

REBOUNDS — Greybull 29 (Rodriguez 9).  STEALS — Greybull 19 (Acuna 5).  ASSISTS — 10 (Rodriguez 9).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 29.

Greybull 10   5 10 3 — 28

Tongue R. 23 12 19 8 — 62

GREYBULL — Acuna 1 0-0 2, Henderson 3 0-0 8, Cheatham 2 1-2 5, P. Rodriguez 2 0-0 4, J. Rodriguez 1 0-0 2, Whaley 1 0-0 2, Oatman 0 3-4 3, Diaz-Rios 1 0-0 2.  Totals 11-of-34 4-of-8 28.

3-POINT GOALS — Henderson 2.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 26 (Acuna 8).  STEALS — Greybull 6.  ASSISTS  — Greybull 8.  TURNOVERS — Greybull 29.