Local teams use holiday break to get better

A frantic first three weeks of the 2023-24 season has left local high school coaches yearning for practice time as they head into the mid-season stretch of the schedule that begins this weekend.
With students returning today (Thursday) in both school districts, the sports schedule resumes Friday with basketball games and a wrestling triangular.
Lovell will host a wrestling triangular featuring the Bulldogs, Rocky Mountain and Greybull/Riverside Friday at 5 p.m., and both Lovell and Rocky will attend the Wrangler Duals Saturday, with action set to begin at 10 a.m. in Shoshoni.
The basketball schedule finds the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies hosting Class 3A Powell Friday at 4 (junior varsity), 5:30 (girls varsity) and 7 p.m. (boys varsity) in Cowley. Lovell will travel to meet Class 4A Cody Friday, with games also at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m.
The third ranked (WyoPreps) Lady Grizzlies have had a stellar season so far, roaring out to an 8-0 record before falling to Lovell on December 21. Coach Justin Moss said the Lady Grizzlies needed the holiday break to rejuvenate and get in some valuable practice time.
“It was a great time for our girls to initially step away and refresh our minds and bodies,” Moss said. “After we got back, we were able to string together some good practices where we worked on fundamentals and cleaned up some of our defensive assignments. We were also able to put in some new sets, work on timing and improve some of our transition issues.
“In addition, we were able to enjoy watching Teagan Townsend (Dickenson State College) play at Rocky Mountain College in Billings. We also had a lot of our past players come in and work with our current team. We call them the ladies. They are a great crew that keeps giving back to our program. We definitely got better over the break.”
Lovell girls coach Chris Edwards also used the break to hone the skills of his team and prepare for tough games ahead.
“The practices we had over the break seemed to be effective and gave us the opportunity to get better as a team,” said Edwards of the 5-3 Lady Bulldogs. “The players who attended the practices over the break worked hard on their conditioning, which will benefit them as we get into the meat of our conference schedule later in January. We were able to bring in several alumni players over the break to scrimmage our players, which gave them tough competition to scrimmage against. Hopefully, the high school players learned from the high energy and intensity the alumni played with and try to implement that intensity in their games.
“Overall at this point, we still aren’t competing at high intensity levels consistently on the defensive end of the floor, with rebounding or in transition. Hopefully this Friday against Cody we can match their intensity and handle their pressure. The Cody game will help prepare us for the Big Horn Basin tournament next weekend and our conference games with Worland and Powell the following weeks.”
The rebuilding Rocky Mountain boys (2-6) used the break to make improvements in several areas, coach Pat Winland said.
“We have had a good break,” Winland said. The kids have gotten healthier. We worked on some defensive rotations and cleaned that up a bit. As we head into the second half of our season, our focus will be on our conference schedule while embracing the tough non-conference competition we have in front of us.”
The fourth ranked Lovell boys (7-1) are looking forward to the resumption of the season, coach Shane Durtsche said.
“Practice has gone well over the break,” Durtsche said. “The team continues to improve and progress. We are excited to get back to games after competing with each other over the past couple weeks.
“We have Cody on Friday, and that will be a tough test right out of the gate to start the second half of the season.”
Friday’s games are the only varsity and JV games of the weekend, but Lovell will attend a freshman tournament in Buffalo Saturday and travel to Powell Monday for games at 5 (girls) and 6:30 p.m.
The Rocky Mountain freshmen will meet Greybull Monday at 6:15 p.m., with the girls game in Greybull and the boys playing at home. The RMHS frosh will play Burlington Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., with the girls at home this time and the boys in Burlington.
The high school squads will attend the Big Horn Basin Classic January 12-13, with the Lovell and Rocky girls playing in Cowley and the boys teams traveling to Worland.
Wrestling
Coach Eddie Whiting said the Grizzlies mixed practice with activities over the break as they prepare for the triangular and Wrangler Duals.
“For the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies, we had a successful break,” Whiting said. “We were able to get a team bonding session in with Club Dauntless and activities, which the athletes enjoyed. Thank you, Club Dauntless, for having us.
“The varsity team for us is going to consist of getting some of our injured wrestlers back, and we should start to see a three-quarter full lineup for weights filled. I am excited to see how we have adapted to our new and revised moves and conditioning from the break. We have a busy schedule ahead this month starting out in Lovell on the 5th and then to Shoshoni on the 6th.”
“We are back to work after a holiday break,” Lovell coach Ty Hecker said. “The team has been working hard to make a push to start the new year off right. We will have our home duals against Greybull and Rocky on Friday at 5 at the high school gym.”