Grace season comes to an end

Every time these two teams meet things get interesting.  In addition to the battles on the court, you have the intense rivalry that the two fanbases bring with them.  As the first game got going it was clear that both teams were going to focus on defense.  The Butte full court press caused a few problems early on for the Grizz, but turnabout is fair play and the Grizz pressed back.  The scoring was few and far between in the first.  The Grizzlies showed great aggression but needed to be careful as they would end the quarter with six different players having one foul each.  

The score after one was tied at just nine points a piece.  In the second, the teams would go back and forth with little success early.  The Grizzlies seemed to have figured out the Pirate press and were moving the ball down the court well and getting some good looks at easy buckets.  Butte County looked visibly flustered for possibly the first time this year in these matchups.  Butte would take a timeout after a little run by the Grizzlies.  The timeout worked for the Pirates as they now had the Grizzlies a little out of sorts; however, as the half was ending Sorenson would get a great offensive rebound and put back at the buzzer maintaining the Grizz five point lead at 20-15.  

During the second, several Grizzlies did pick up a second foul but fortunately none added a third.  Starting off the third quarter the Grizzlies looked really good as they were playing with a renewed purpose and jumped out to a 27-16 lead, forcing the Pirates to call a timeout just one and a half minutes in.  Once again the timeout worked for the Pirates as they would then go on a 5-0 run closing the gap.  Grace would call a timeout a short time later at about the midway point of the quarter with a 29-21 lead.  The pace and the scoring would seem to pick up from there and the third would end with Grace leading 34-25.  

Starting off the fourth the teams would begin by trading baskets before Butte would close the gap and eventually tie the game.  The Grizzlies had missed four consecutive three point attempts before Lloyd finally put one in.  That would be part of a Grace 8-0 run and Butte would call a timeout at the 2:46 mark.  From there the Grizzly scoring would slow and Butte would once again close the gap to just a single point with just under one minute left.  Joe Clegg who had played hard but had failed to score would finally put a basket in, taking the Grizzly lead back to three points.  With 31 seconds left Butte would call the first of what would be four timeouts between the two teams to finish the game.  After all the maneuvering and strategies, Butte would attempt a deep well-contested three that would miss and Grace would rebound. The time would expire before Grace ever had to shoot and the Grizzlies would win 50-47.  Scoring went as follows K. Clegg-18, Lloyd-10, Sorenson-9, Kimball-5, Jorgensen-3, C.Smith-3, J. Clegg-2.

With the win, Grace would force the if-necessary game taking them to a true championship.  The winner of this final matchup of the season would get their ticket to state while the loser would see their season come to an end.  Once again the teams would meet at the neutral sight of Thunder Ridge High School.  As this one got underway, things would not go the Grizzlies way.  Grace would have several good looks at the basket but the invisible gremlin on the rim seemed to pull every shot out.  This caused some frustration to the Grizzlies and even with a timeout and pep talk from the coaching staff Grace would end the quarter down 17-5. 

 The second period wouldn’t go much better for Grace as they would continue to have miscues and everything seemed to bounce in favor of the Pirates.  The Grizz would see some foul trouble but finally put some baskets in.  With halftime at hand Grace would still trail 32-20. 

 In the third quarter, Grace would give themselves a chance to get back into the game as they would close the gap and finish the quarter down
45-40.  

The fourth would start with Butte coming out and scoring a quick five points pushing the lead back to ten.  Grace would struggle to stay out of foul trouble and two of their starters would foul out.  The Grizzlies would not be able to get over that eight to ten point deficit and when the final buzzer sounded Grace would fall short losing 63-54.  For the six Grace seniors, their high school careers were over but they can hold their heads high as they fought all season and had some big wins.  With strong junior and sophomore classes Grace will look to come back next season and once again contend for a district title. Scoring for Grace K. Clegg-22, Sorenson-10, Jorgensen-8, C. Smith-6, Kimball-5, Lloyd-2, J. Clegg-1