RMHS Lady Grizz ready to face tough teams this weekend

Justin Moss returns for his third season as head coach of the Rocky Mountain High School girls basketball program, bringing nearly two decades of high school coaching experience into the new campaign. Over the years, Moss has coached both boys and girls at RMHS, and at this point, the seasons tend to blur together.

“At some point, you stop counting and just realize you’ve spent a lot of hours coaching,” Moss said with a smile.

Moss will be joined on the bench this season by Stacey Haslam, who will coach the JV squad, and Jamie Cooley, who will lead the freshman, or C team. Together, they will oversee a Lady Grizzlies program that may be smaller in numbers this year but is rich in experience and familiarity.

That experience showed this summer, as Rocky Mountain put together an ambitious summer league schedule that took them all over Wyoming and beyond. The Lady Grizz played teams they may never see again, including programs from North and South Dakota, while also testing themselves against large-school competition.

“We played probably 20 summer league games,” Moss said.

One of those games came against Kelly Walsh, a matchup that caught Moss’s attention, not just because of the competition, but because of the size difference.

“We lost to Kelly Walsh by four, and they had three girls who were about 6-3,” he said. “We hung with them.”

While summer basketball helps build familiarity and confidence, Moss knows it doesn’t always predict what happens once the season officially begins.“Summer ball helps,” he said, “but it’s still different when the season starts.”

Heading into opening weekend, Moss admitted that naming the initial starting lineup was fairly straightforward, even if it isn’t set in stone. “Lauren (Bassett) and Keylee (Christiansen) are two seniors we’re starting. Those are easy ones,” he said. “Kaysie Cooley and Halle Grandalen both got lots of time last year, and Layla Gardner will be our fifth starter.”

From the beginning, Moss has made it clear that roles will evolve and that everyone on the roster will be part of the season’s story.

“Everybody is going to play,” he said. “Everyone will be on the bench and be part of it.”

Rocky Mountain will carry a roster of 13 players this season. The senior class includes Bassett, Christiansen and Gardner, providing leadership and experience. The junior class features Cooley, Grandalen, Avery Thomas and Charlee Welling, a group that has seen significant varsity time and continues to develop. The sophomores are Kennedy Brimhall, Leah Haslem and Brooklyn Larsen, while the freshman class includes Sawyer Bassett, Annie Crosby and Daizy Weinand.

As the team prepares for its first games, Moss admits the familiar nerves still show up, even after all these years on the sideline.

“I still get butterflies,” he said. “To me, that means I’m ready. I’ve learned to love those butterflies.”

Opening weekend, he said, always brings clarity. “You learn a lot the first weekend,” Moss noted. “There will be things we do really well and things we don’t do well, and that’s great this time of year.”

Practices have gone well so far, but Moss said early-season conditioning is always a challenge, especially with the Thanksgiving break interrupting rhythm and momentum.

“I think every coach feels like they’re not quite ready after Thanksgiving,” he laughed. “You lose four days, but everybody’s in the same boat.”

While conditioning has been part of the early practices, Moss is curious to see how his team responds once games begin.

“It’ll be interesting to see where our legs are at,” he said. “Volleyball conditioning is way different than basketball conditioning.”

When asked which teams he believes will be the ones to beat this season, Moss expressed confidence in his own squad while acknowledging the depth of competition across the state.

“We’ll be very competitive with those teams, but it’s kind of up in the air this year,” he said.

Among the programs he expects to challenge the Lady Grizz are several familiar names.

“Sundance is going to be really tough,” Moss noted, citing solid returning players. “Tongue River is different this year, but they’re back-to-back state champs.” He also pointed to Thermopolis as another perennial opponent. “Thermopolis is always tough,” Moss said, referencing the many close battles between the programs over the years.

Rocky Mountain opens the season with a challenging weekend of games, and Moss believes those contests will offer an honest early assessment of where the Lady Grizzlies stand. More importantly, they will help shape what the team becomes down the road.

“It’s a really tough opening weekend,” he said. “But that’s good. You find out where you’re at.”

Rocky Mountain varsity opens the season at a two-day tournament hosted in Wright and Glenrock. Friday in Wright, the Lady Grizzlies tip-off tournament play at noon against Sundance, followed by a 6 p.m. matchup against host Wright. Action continues on Saturday in Glenrock with a noon game against Tongue River, before wrapping up the weekend with a 3 p.m. contest against Glenrock.

The junior varsity squad will meet Sundance at 1:30 p.m. and Wright at 6 p.m. Friday and Tongue River Saturday at 9 a.m.