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    Grizzlies over Lady Chiefs in battle of conference leaders

    It was a historic afternoon for Rocky Mountain head girls basketball coach Eric Honeyman. In nine previous trips to Ethete, his girls lost to Wyoming Indian head coach Aleta Moss and her Lady Chiefs, but not this time. Rocky Mountain survived a hard-fought game to emerge with a 50-46 win.

    It’s likely a preview of the Class 2-A West girls’ championship in Riverton two weeks from Saturday since both teams have rolled through the respective Class 2-A Southwest and Northwest conference schedules.

    It was a slow start to open the game that doomed the Lady Chiefs. Over the last few weeks their offense has been sluggish in the open period and it was the case once against Saturday afternoon at Alfred Redman Gym.

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    Michaela HIwalker looked to make an entry pass – {h/t Randy Tucker}

    The Lady Chiefs scored just five points in the opening period on a pair of close-range shots from Elianna Duran and Michaela Hiwalker, with a Duran free throw.

    Wyoming Indian rallied, not with a quick run as they often do, but steadily in their half-court set.

    Rocky Mountain handles pressure well and the easy transition layups that Wyoming Indian’s press usually produces weren’t there. Instead, the Lady Chiefs went inside with three quick baskets off short drives by Shye Killsontop, with a pair of follow shots coming from Duran, and another from Taya Dixey.

    Eliana Duran got a shot off against tight defense by Kennedi Minchow of Rocky Mountain – {h/t Randy Tucker}

    The steady march tied the game at 17 on a Duran hook shot in the paint.

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    The game was tied twice more, the first time at 20, and then late in the contest at 42.

    Rocky’s Victoria Arnold was the difference late in the game. Wyoming Indian built a four-point lead at 42-38 with 4:11 to play but back-to-back steals by Arnold in just 18 seconds knotted the game.

    Arnold stole a pass out of the Lady Chiefs’ half-court set, then raced coast-to-coast for a score, then she stole the inbound pass for a second steal and layup.

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    Moss called a quick timeout to settle her girls and Killsontop gave the Lady Chiefs a final brief lead on a free throw for a 43-42 advantage before the Grizzlies rolled on an 8-0 run in the final 1:27 of the game.

    Layla C’Bearing found tough defense by Rocky’s Victoria Arnold – {h/t Randy Tucker}

    Arnold was hammered into the scorers’ table on another steal but hit both free throws in spite of the hard hit then added two more at the line a few seconds later.

    The decisive shot came on a baseline 3-pointer by MacKelle Moss with 46 seconds left in the game.

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    The Grizzlies led 50-42 when Deja Felter hit her final of three 3-pointers on the game at the buzzer.

    Duran and Killsontop paced the Lady Chiefs with 11 each and Felter added nine.

    For the Lady Grizzlies, it was 19 for Arnold and a dozen for Moss.

    Wyoming Indian finishes Southwest 2-A Conference play on the road at Kemmerer on Friday and Big Piney Saturday.

    Wyoming Indian   5 17 12 12 – 46

    Rocky Mountain 11   9 15 15 – 50

    Wyoming Indian – Layla C’Bearing 2-2 2, Deja Felter (3) 0-0 9, Taya Dixey 2 1-2 5, Elianna Duran 5 1-4 11, Maggie Smith 1 2-4 4, Shye Killsontop 5 1-2 11, Camilla Brown 2-4 2. Totals 13 (3) 11-20 46

    Rocky Mountain – Arnold 6 7-11 19, Garcia 1 1-6 3, Arnold 2 0-0 4, Moss 3 (1) 3-4 12, Wambeke 1 2-2 4, Bassett 2 0-0 4, Minchow 3-4 3. Totals 15 (1) 17-27 50

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