Lady Grizz win three at Wrangler Invitational

The Grizzly girls won all three games at the Wrangler Invitational December 15 and 16.
But just as much as the Rocky girls are winning, they are also loving the game. Head coach Justin Moss said the team is having “lots of fun.”
“You can see it in  practices. You can see it as they cheer for each other. You can see it  even when the JV team goes in, and when we get up, our varsity team is loud and on their feet, and just excited for each other,” he said. “Our girls really care about each other.”
Rocky vs. Saratoga
The first game of the tournament was against Saratoga on Friday. Moss said the team started to take control in the second and third quarters, outscoring Saratoga 15-7 in the second and 16-3 in the third.
 Three Rocky girls scored in the double digits, led by sophomore Lauren Bassett and junior Brittly Boettcher with 12 points and senior MacKelle Moss scoring 11.
Next in scoring was sophmore Keylee Christiansen with 7 points, followed by junior Tarynn Schoening with 5 and freshman Kaysie Cooley, junior Shelby Wambeke and senior Rylee Winland with 2. The Grizzlies ended their first game of the weekend with a 53-31 win.
The 12 total assists were good for the team, Moss said, as the team is averaging 10.8 assists per game.
“We’ve done a really good job of sharing the ball,” he said. “Our scoring has been different girls scoring and a variety of girls scoring. So, the cool thing is we don’t have to count on one girl…It’s kind of a balanced attack.”
Rocky Mountain vs. Kemmerer
The next game of the tournament Saturday against Kemmerer was a physical one. Moss said there was foul trouble both with his team and the opponents.
“We had our starters real early get in foul trouble. Tarynn had foul trouble, and also Lauren had foul trouble, so we needed to play some other girls. It was also a very physical game, and they played pretty tough man against us.”
While the fouls affected how the team played, Moss said the offense wasn’t quite as fluid as before. Rocky led the first quarter 11-4 and dominated the second quarter 7-0, finishing at halftime with a steady 18-4 lead. However, Kemmerer started to catch up in the second half, outscoring the Grizzlies 8-6 in the third quarter and 15-8 in the fourth. But they couldn’t catch the determined Grizzlies who pulled away with a 32-27 win.
“I do want to highlight Brittly Boettcher in this one. She did a really good job driving against their pressure. And she led us in scoring. She had 10 points in scoring,” Moss said.
Wambeke followed with 7 points, Moss and Christiansen 4, Bassett 3, and Schoening and Winland 2.  Moss said the foul trouble led to a different offensive strategy and allowed younger players to step up.
Rocky Mountain vs. Dubois
The final game of the weekend on Saturday was against Dubois, who Moss said is a young team.
Moss said a lot of girls got involved in the game, from scoring to steals to rebounds and beyond. Wambeke had five steals, and there were 12 steals all together, which Moss said is a large number for the team.
In particular, the team impressed in rebounds, he said, with Bassett grabbing 10 rebounds, Moss nine and Boettcher eight.
“I don’t know if I’ve even been part of a game having that many rebounds from three different girls, almost double-digit rebounds from three girls, so that was cool,” he said.
Moss led in scoring with 12 points.  Coach Moss said MacKelle is a great leader on the team, the voice of the defense and having an even better season than her previous all-state season.
Boettcher followed in scoring with 9 points, Wambeke and Bassett 8, Winland 6, Christiansen and junior Sharlottle Hanusa 5, Cooley 3 and Schoening 2.  The Grizzlies fielded a dominant 58-20 win against Dubois.
Moss said while the team is off to a strong start, he is excited to get back in the gym to hone their craft.