The Wind River girls extended their win streak to four games after a weekend sweep of Kemmerer and Rocky Mountain, but more importantly, now take the top spot in the Class 2-A Northwest Conference with a perfect 3-0 record.
Saturday they won easily at Kemmerer over the Lady Rangers 61-33 after a brutal battle with Northwest foe Rocky Mountain that ended in a 54-44 Lady Cougar victory.
Wind River’s relentless full-court pressure took its toll on the Lady Grizzlies, forcing 41 turnovers in the game, but generating a lot of fouls as well.
The two teams combined for 62 free throw attempts on the game with 32 by Wind River and 30 by the visiting Lady Grizz.
The game lasted an hour and forty-five minutes as officials put the ball back from the swarm of turnovers and the close stopped repeatedly on 23 fouls by Wind River and 20 by Rocky Mountain.
The two squads entered the contest unbeaten in conference play, with Greybull a distant third and Shoshoni still looking for their first conference win of the season.
The Lady Cougars led 14-9 before Rocky converted two of their 21 free throws. The Cougars led by three at the first break.
The CHAOS style pressure paid off in the second period with Karina Frederick hitting a layup on a textbook three-on-one fast break. The transition blitz continued with Amanda Jenkins stealing a pass and hitting Frederick with a perfect bounce pass for another layup.
The Lady Cougars led 20-11 late in the period when Rocky’s Shelby Wambeke clanked in a long trey off the glass for a 20-14 halftime score.
Rocky jumped to a 20-20 tie on a 6-0 run to open the third and the game was tied again at 22 when the Jenkins show opened up.
Jenkins scored all of her game-high 12 points in the second half, including a pair of third-period 3-pointers. She added two more off a tip from Emma Miller and completed an outstanding period with a coast-to-coast drive ending in a dish to Delaney Gambler for a 38-26 Wind River lead entering the final period.
A final bit of razzle dazzle came on a Jenkins steal with a pass to Madi Arneach who made a no-look pass to Allison Tidzump for a layup with 22 seconds left in the game.
Wind River travels to Dubois on Tuesday then hosts Big Piney on Friday.
WIND RIVER 14 6 18 16 – 54
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 11 5 10 18 – 44
Wind River – Karina Frederick 4 0-0 8, Natalie Walker 1 (1) 4-8 9, Amanda Jenkins 1 (2) 4-6 12, Jonae Spoonhunter 1 0-0 2, Madi Arneach 1 3-6 7, Allison Tidzump 2 3-6 7, Delaney Gambler 3 2-4 8. Totals 13 (3) 19-32 54
Rocky Mountain – Schoening 1 0-0 2, Christiansen 1 0-0 2, Boettcher 6-8 6, Moss 4 3-4 11, Wambeke (1) 5-6 8, Basset 4 5-11 13. Totals 10 (1) 21-30 44