Rocky Mountain took their second consecutive regional tournament crown Saturday afternoon with a 46-34 win over the Wyoming Indian Lady Chiefs.
The win advances the Lady Grizzlies to a 10:30 am opening round state tournament game with Burns at Casper College. The Lady Chiefs face Tongue River at 4:30 pm also at the college.
Wyoming Indian’s advance to the finals was treacherous this weekend. The Lady Chiefs survived a defensive struggle with Greybull 51-42 to open the tournament Thursday then survived a nail-biting double overtime battle with Big Piney, finally emerging with a 55-48 win after the two extra periods played out.
Against Rocky Mountain, Wyoming Indian’s defense was in top form, holding the Lady Grizzlies to just a single basket. Offensively the Lady Chiefs ran the floor well, executed their half-court offense, and spread the ball around with four different players combining for six close-range shots in the opening minutes.
That all changed as the game progressed.
Wyoming Indian led 19-16 at the half, but Rocky started to warm up, and the Lady Grizzlies blocked out well, controlling the glass in the second half.
Rocky Mountain took a one-point lead at 28-27 entering the final period in an uncharacteristically low-scoring game for both teams. In the final stanza, the Grizz went to athletic senior Victoria Arnold who tallied eight of their 18 fourth-quarter points.
Elianna Duran led the Lady Chiefs with 15 points.
Friday, Big Piney came out in a hustling half-court defense, and handled Wyoming Indian’s full-court pressure easily, finishing many possessions with layups off their press breaker.
Baskets were hard to come by against the Big Piney defense, and the Lady Chiefs hit just three 3-point shots on the night. The difference in regulation play came on free throws.
The final tally was similar with Wyoming Indian taking 21 shots from the line and Big Piney 23, but the Lady Punchers hit 20 of their 23 attempts and the Lady Chiefs just 12 of their 21.
Both teams had chances to win in regulation and the first overtime, but each time one took a lead, the other answered.
In the second extra period, the Lady Chiefs finally gained control early with Elianna Duran and Taya Dixey each hitting close-range shots and Roberta Whiteplume, Lay C’Bearing, and Michaela Hiwalker combining for five free throws.
Dixie led the Lady Chiefs with 14 and Duran scored 13.
Big Piney’s Micah Strong led all scorers with 22.
Rocky Mountain 2 14 12 18 – 46
Wyoming Indian – 13 6 8 7 – 34
Rocky Mountain – Arnold 5 4-8 14, Garcia 1 2-2 4, Arnold 3 1-2 7, Boettcher 1-4 1, Moss 2 4-6 8, Wambeke 1 2-3 4, Bassett 2 0-1 4, Minchow 1 2-2 4. Totals 15 16-28 46
Wyoming Indian – Roberta Whiteplume 2 0-0 4, Layla C’Bearing 1 0-0 2, Taya Dixey 1 0-0 2, Elianna Duran 5 5-10 15, Dionne Ferris (1) 0-0 3, Shye Killsontop 1 6-6 8. Totals 10 (1) 11- 16 34
Wyoming Indian 5 10 9 12 10 9 – 55
Big Piney 6 6 14 10 10 3 – 48
Wyoming Indian – Roberta Whiteplume 4-4 4, Layla C’Bearing 2 1-4 5, Taya Dixey 7 0-0 14, Deja Felter (2) 0-0 6, Elliana Duran 5 3-6 13, Maggie Smith 1-3 1, Shye Killsontop 2 (1) 2-2 8, Michaela Hiwalker 2-2 2, C Brown 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 (3) 12-21 55
Big Piney – Kodee Green 1-4 1, Shelby Guest 1 0-4 2, Micah Strong 9 4-6 22, Sharianne Brower 1 (1) 0-0 5, Rayne Sorenson 3 1-2 7, Lizzy Brandt 1 0-0 2, Brylie Bailey 1 1-2 3, Hannah Runyan 3 0-2 6. Totals 19 (1) 7-20 48