Tough weekend stretch: Girls drop defensive home battle against Wright, bounce back with overtime victory

Two teams struggling for offensive consistency collided when the Glenrock High School girls basketball team hosted Wright in an inter-class showdown before moving on to the biggest part of the season. Points were at a premium as expected but filled with a bunch of defensive highlights and the Panthers held on to escape the Herders 31-21.

Both defenses, in both the full and half courts, were relentless to the final buzzer. Shots, passes and rebounds were contested and rejected on a regular basis.

In the opening period, just 14 total points were tallied and the teams were separated by just a bucket. Wright struck first thanks to Mya Hentch-Robb who had the first steal of the game and scored the first four points to make it 4-0.

After seven scoreless possessions, Glenrock ended its silence with Gracie Sixbey swishing her first shot. Teammate Kiley Smith buried a couple of free throws and it was a new game at 4-4.

The defensive clash picked up as the units continued to force eight more turnovers. The Panthers eventually doubled its lead thanks to jumpers by Harley Cooley and Dani Barnhurst before Sixbey scored again and WHS led 8-6 after one.

Shaelynn Strohschein nailed her first shot for Wright to start the second stanza before Glenrock answered when Sixbey stole the ball and scored before teammate Sheridan Sarvey was perfect from the charity stripe to tie things again at 10-10. 

The teams combined for four turnovers before another shot was made and that happened when leading scorer Briana Meza and Hentch-Robb scored to put the Panthers back in front 14-10.

The Herders struggled stringing together buckets again and getting rebounds which kept the team playing from behind. They scored once in the final minutes thanks to Sixbey on an offensive rebound before Meza scored the final four points to give Wright an 18-12 halftime edge.

Glenrock moved the ball better in the second half in its halfcourt sets. The struggle was finding the bottom of the net which limited the hosts to just 10 points in the final two quarters.

Wright started showing flashes of life on the offensive end of the floor. Meza scored twice on layups and Strohschein hit a shot from the low block to extend the lead to eight.

The Herders only managed four points in the third period thanks to Caitilyn Williams and Sixbey. The lack of buckets allowed the Panthers to carry a 26-16 lead into the fourth frame.

That was the biggest lead of the night as Glenrock’s tenacious defense wreacked havoc on WHS’ attempt for some offensive momentum. GHS’ Kyrie Tiensvold, Megann Farley, Taitum Helmy, Williams and Sixbey all played a role among others to limit Wright to just five points in the final quarter to give the team a chance for a rally.

The Panthers’ limited scoring came from Hentch-Robb and Meza which were just enough to hold off a stubborn Glenrock squad.

The Herders continued to scrap and claw for everything, including forcing four more turnovers. They just couldn’t turn them all into points as the Panthers held GHS to five points as well, which were made by Farley, Sarvey and Williams.

BUSY WEEKEND

The narrow loss to Wright was sandwiched between a win and loss. The three-day brutal stretch started with another close call with a 47-40 setback at Rawlins.

The week ended with some fireworks at Moorcroft. The team had three players foul out and trailed during the game but rallied to stun the Wolves 55-50 in overtime.

The Herders led 23-18 after one period and 32-25 at halftime. Moorcroft slowly got closer and eventually took a 39-36 lead in the fourth quarter.

Sixbey hit a three pointer and Sarvey buried free throws to get within a basket. Sixbey made a free throw with 1 second left to tie the game at 49-49 and force overtime.

It was all Glenrock in overtime where the Herders held Moorcroft to one point to rally for victory.