Cards And Grizz Struggle At Bulldog Shootout

The Soda Springs Cardinals and Grace Grizzlies boys basketball teams competed in the Bulldog Shootout in Ririe last week.  They were joined by seven other schools mostly from the southeast part of the state.  The two Caribou County squads were matched up against the same three teams that included 4A South Fremont, 3A Ririe, and 3A Firth.  Soda Springs was also given one extra game against 4A Cole Valley Christian.  This was a great opportunity for each team to get some non-conference games in while seeing how the other fared against some common opponents.  Unfortunately our two local schools finished the weekend without any wins at the Bulldog Shootout.

Due to a scheduling conflict the Grizzlies got an early start on the shootout.  With several of their players being unavailable to play on Thursday when the other teams would start play. The Grizzlies were able to get the host school Ririe to agree to play their Thursday game on Wednesday instead.  The Grizzlies got off to a good start in this game and led after the first quarter.  A sluggish second quarter spelled doom however for Grace as they would only muster a pair of foul shots.  The remainder of the game was competitive but the Grizzlies came up three points short.

After taking Thursday off the Grizzlies were back in action Friday taking on South Fremont.  The Grizzlies were playing up two classifications in this game but gave a good effort nonetheless.  After a slow start that had Grace trailing by eight in the first the Grizzlies would fight back in the second and cut the deficit to four at halftime.  In the closing moments of the game the Grizzlies had got to within one point.  With time slipping away the Grizzlies were forced to foul to save the clock.  Grace was not able to benefit from this strategy and eventually fell by five points.

In their final game of the weekend Grace took on the Firth Cougars.  After a fast start for the Grizzlies the hot shooting of the Cougars would kick in.  The Cougars would outscore the Grizzlies in each of the first three quarters including a twenty one to thirteen third quarter.  The Grizzlies were unable to keep pace and fell in their first blow out loss of the season losing by seventeen points.

The Cardinals started their shootout schedule with the South Fremont Cougars.  This was a close battle throughout the contest.  Just one point separated the teams after the first quarter and at halftime the Cardinals led by the slim margin of two points.  The third quarter was all Soda Springs.  They would extend the two point lead to an eleven point one.  Unfortunately the fourth quarter would be a mirror image of the third in favor of the Cougars.  South Fremont outscored the Cardinals by twelve to win the game by one point.

On Friday the Cardinals had to double up and play two games.  They started the day against the hot shooting Firth Cougars.  Firth jumped out to an early seventeen to nine lead and never looked back.  The Cardinals were unable to hit double digits in any single quarter of the game.  The Cougars took down the Cardinals by eighteen points.  With just a five hour break the Cardinals were back in action against a very tough 4A Cole Valley Christian team.  The Cardinals struggled to get going in this game only scoring four points in the first quarter and by halftime they already trailed by fourteen.  The lead for the Chargers would only grow from there and by the end of the game the Cardinals had fallen by thirty one points.

The Cardinals finished off the weekend playing the home team Ririe Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs hit their single game high score of the season in this match up with the Cardinals.  Soda Springs had a very respectable game but just could not keep pace with the Bulldogs best shooting performance of the year.  When the final buzzer sounded on their weekend the Cardinals had fallen once again by double digits.

Each Caribou County team will look to improve on their disappointing weekend as they move forward this week.  The Grizzlies took on Aberdeen on Tuesday and will travel to Rich County Utah on Friday.  The Cardinals will be at home on Wednesday against North Fremont before traveling to take on West Jefferson on Friday. 

Grizzlies 11 2 10 14 37

Bulldogs 8 9 12 11 40

D.Hill 4, B.Kimball 10, G.Draper 3, C.Reeves 4, C.Welch 1, T.Mathews 2, P.Yost 2, L.Moss 11

Grizzlies 7 10 19 11 47

Cougars 15 6 19 12 52

D.Hill 14, B.Kimball 13, G.Draper 3, C.Andresen 7, C.Reeves 5, C.Welch 4, P. Yost 1

Grizzlies 6 8 13 12 39

Cougars 11 14 21 10 56

D.Hill 3, B.Kimball 18, G.Draper 5, C.Reeves 1, P.Yost 1, B.Smith 6, L.Moss 5

Cardinals 10 15 17 8 50

Cougars 11 12 8 20 51

K.Kirby 2, C.Thompson 9, G.Hansen 18, K.McWilliams 10, P.Ozburn 9, D.Billman 2

Cardinals  9 7 9 6 31

Cougars 17 10 10 12 49

K.Kirby 4, C.Jacobson 3, C.Thompson 4, G.Hansen 10, K.McWilliams 4, D.Stoor 4, P.Ozburn 2

Cardinals 4 11 6 13 34

Chargers 11 18 16 20 65

K.Kirby 5, C.Thompson 7, G.Hansen 7, K.McWilliams 7, D.Stoor 4, P.Ozburn 4, 

Cardinals 8 14 10 10 42

Bulldogs 16 15 11 20 62

K.Kirby 3, C.Thompson 10, G.Hansen 14, K.McWilliams 13, P.Ozburn 2