Season Ends at District Championship Game For Lady Grizz

Last Thursday the Lady Grizzlies faced a familiar opponent in what ended up being the district championship game.  For the fourth time this season the girls from Grace had to square off with their district rivals the Lady Pirates from Butte County.  The teams had split the regular season matchups by the slimmest of margins.  Then when the two faced each other in the second round of the district tournament the Lady Pirates blew out the Lady Grizzlies in what was perhaps the poorest performance of the season by Grace.  After dispatching the Lady Pumas the Lady Grizzlies had once again earned the right to play Butte County.  It was a must win situation for Grace.  The double game elimination bracket that was set up meant that not only would the Lady Grizzlies need to win the most recent face off with the Lady Pirates but that they would have to turn right around and do it again to qualify for state.  That’s a tall order for most teams and unfortunately for the Lady Grizzlies and their fans the “if-necessary” game would not have to be played.

Tess Jorgensen attempting a three-point shot

On Thursday night the Lady Grizzlies looked like they may suffer another inexplicable blow out loss as the game got underway.  The Lady Pirates quickly jumped out to a ten to one lead.  After a timeout called by Coach Christensen the Lady Grizzlies settled down a little and started to claw their way back into the game.  By the end of the first quarter Butte County still held a solid lead but the Lady Grizzlies were making some moves.  The first quarter ended with Grace trailing by seven.  Just a few minutes into the second quarter the Lady Grizzlies had fought their way back into the game, boosted in part by the play of junior Amanda Cooper who hit two quick buckets down low.  Near the midway part of the quarter the Lady Grizzlies seized a brief one point lead off of an eighteen footer by Kallie Stoddard.  After the eight point run by the Lady Grizzlies the Lady Pirates responded with a six point run of their own.  As the two teams headed to the locker room they were separated by just two points with the Lady Grizzlies trailing.  

The Lady Pirates were able to get the first points of the second half and built their two point lead to six.  The rest of the quarter the teams would battle back and forth with the lead hovering right around four to six points for much of the period.  In the closing minute of the quarter the Lady Grizzlies finally got over the four point hump and cut the lead to just two points once again.  The game remained close through the final quarter as well with the difference being just one or two possessions for much of the period.  Unfortunately the Lady Grizzlies were never able to push past the Lady Pirates.  Too many costly turnovers by Grace as well as giving up too many offensive rebounds to the Lady Pirates doomed the Lady Grizzlies in this game.  Some late game strategic fouling allowed the Lady Pirates to pull away a little to make this game appear as though it was not as close as it was.  In the end the Lady Grizzlies would lose by seven.  The loss meant that a solid group of senior girls had played their last game.  The Lady Grizzlies will lose some solid players to graduation but will retain plenty of girls with varsity experience for next year’s team.  Included in those girls coming back are two starters Cally Yost and Presliegh Steadman.  It is never fun to have your season end before the state tournament but this year’s Lady Grizzlies had a terrific run that they should be proud of.

Grizzlies 5 11 13 11 40

Pirates 12 6 13 16 47

K. Stoddard 4, K. Mansfield 6, P. Steadman 6, C. Yost 9, A. Cooper 10, T. Jorgensen 3, P. Hatch 2