Lady Pirates lose close game to Red Devils

By By

The Green River Lady Pirates traveled to what has proven over the years to be a hostile court for a game against the Lady Red Devils of Grand County High School on Jan. 5. The Lady Pirates had previously beaten the Lady Devils on their home court by three points in what was a very exciting game. Tuesday’s game was equally as exciting with a different outcome as they came away losing 42-46.
With this being the first game after the Christmas break, Coach Parsons wondered aloud which of his ‘teams’ would show up to play. The work hard on defense and work the ball around team showed up for the first half when the Pirates went into the locker room nursing a 28-23 lead where all five starters had scored and they were slightly better than 50 percent from the charity stripe making four of seven.
Things changed after half time though. The Lady Pirates came out flat making only six points in the third quarter to the Red Devils 10 while the fourth quarter was only slightly better with the Pirates making eight to the Devils 13. But the story of the game wasn’t necessarily the loss itself but it’s how they lost that created the most frustration to the players and coaches.
The Lady Pirates ended up going 11 for 29 from the free throw line while the Lady Devils made 16 of 26 with their star player, Shelby Dalton, going 10 for 15 from the line and ended the game with a total of 24 points.
The frustration mounted late in the fourth quarter as the Pirates were playing tough ball-were getting no help from the officials-and coach Parsons made a statement to a close official who quickly turned and ‘T’ed coach Parsons for his outburst. The Red Devils put Shelby Dalton to the line and she missed both shots much to the delight of the Green River crowd who let it be known.
Having Coach Parsons get a technical foul certainly inspired the play of the Lady Pirates but had no effect on the ball going through the hoop as a field goal or free throw.
Sarah Swalberg went 0 for six from the line with seven points and one 3-pointer, Megan Hatt went three for five with 11 points, Jill Vetere went one for two from the line with one point, Cady Mecham went two for six with 10 points, Courtney Carter went three for six with seven points and Tracy Engleman went two for four with six points.