Lady Grizzlies Continue In District Tournament

The Lady Grizzlies began their district tournament last week.  Grace entered the tournament as the second seeded team in the three team district.  The Lady Grizzlies fell to the second seed from the top spot by virtue of just a single point.  Grace and Butte County were virtually mirror images of each other in the regular season.  In their two matchups of the regular season they each won on their home court.  The Lady Pirates won their home game by just one point more than the Lady Grizzlies won theirs giving Butte County the one seed and Grace the two seed.  The third team in the district are the upstarts from Alturas Prep.  The Lady Pumas have not had a program for very many years and are not yet at the level of play of Grace and Butte County.  

As the district tournament got underway the first round saw the Lady Grizzlies face off with the Lady Pumas.  That game went just how everyone expected it to go.  Grace easily breezed to the win moving them to the next round where they would face Butte County.  That game took place last Wednesday in Aberdeen.  All of the district tournament games have been scheduled to be played on the neutral court in Aberdeen.  As mentioned above, the first two meetings of the Lady Grizzlies and Lady Pirates were instant classics with Grace winning one game by three and Butte County winning the other by four.  Last Wednesday everyone expected that game to be just as thrilling as the first two had been but things did not go as planned for Grace.  The Lady Grizzlies struggled right out of the gates.  Grace just could not find a rhythm on offense and did very little to slow down the Lady Pirates.  As the first quarter came to a close Grace already found themselves down by fourteen points as they were only able to muster three points of their own.  In the second quarter the Lady Grizzlies showed some signs of life as they put up some numbers that Grizzly fans have become accustomed to. Even after the big second quarter the Lady Grizzlies still trailed by eleven at the half.  As the Lady Grizzlies came out of the locker room they returned to their first quarter form.  The entire second half was disastrous for the Lady Grizzlies.  Nothing seemed to go right and they progressively fell further behind eventually falling by blowout proportions. 

The loss sent the Lady Grizzlies to the elimination game once again against the struggling Alturas Prep Pumas.  That game took place on Monday night.  Once again the Lady Grizzlies made quick work of the Lady Pumas.  Grace once again cruised to the win and the Lady Pumas were eliminated.  The win keeps the Lady Grizzlies state hopes alive for now.  Grace now heads back to Aberdeen to once again take on Butte County.  The Lady Grizzlies will now have to beat the Lady Pirates in back to back games to earn a state berth.  Not an easy task but one the Lady Grizzlies are up for.  Check next week’s edition to see how the Lady Grizzlies fared in the rest of the tournament and to see if they are state bound.   

Grizzlies 3 16 5 2

Pirates 17 15 24 4

K. Stoddard 3, K. Mansfield 4, P. Steadman 4, C. Yost 6, A. Cooper 2, T. Jorgensen 4, P. Hatch 3