For the week of Nov 26 - Dec 2, 2003

Three wins give Wolverines a solid start

Girls’ basketball success

---

"It’s been a great week," said Wood River High School girls’ basketball coach Brent Carnduff about his Wolverine varsity that was 3-0 in three games.

Jessica King was a big factor in Wood River’s three wins last week. Express photo by David N. Seelig

"We’ve had injuries and illness, but the girls fought through it and we were tough in the fourth quarters."

Wood River (3-1) outscored three opponents 68-46 in the second halves and posted home wins over Bonneville of Idaho Falls and Valley of Hazelton, and its first road victory of the season at Mountain Home.

Saturday, Wood River came out slowly against an unbeaten Valley Vikings team that came to Hailey owning a seven-point win at Kimberly and a 16-point home win over Gooding. Valley (4-1) also beat Filer by 11 points Monday night in Hazelton.

Out-rebounded by Valley 8-6 in an evenly-played first quarter, Wood River went to an aggressive match-up zone and turned the board wars around.

"Rebounding turned it around for us," said Carnduff. And the sparkplug was senior Dawn Bird, who came off the bench for 5 boards and 2 points.

Natalie Green, Wood River’s leading scorer, drives past Valley’s best player Mindy Malone during Saturday’s 42-20 Wolverine runaway on the Hailey hardwoods. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Wood River out-boarded the Vikings 12-2 in the second period and went to halftime with a 23-15 lead. Taller and deeper than the 2A visitors, 3A Wood River held Valley to 5 points in the second half and won 42-20.

The home team out-rebounded Valley 27-17.

Leading scorer Natalie Green (6 rebounds) pumped in 11 of her game-high 17 points in the first half. Jessica King added 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals for the winners.

Tiffany Wheeler (6 points, 2 steals, 2 assists) had a pair of three-pointers for the second straight game. Emily Smith chipped in 5 points, 2 rebounds and 3 steals. Syringa Stark had 3 rebounds and 2 assists while Nikki Calzacorta came in for 2 points, 3 boards and 2 steals.

Wood River’s defense shut out top Valley scorer Lindsy Wood (13.0 ppg), who was scoreless. The best Viking, senior Mindy Malone (6 rebounds), had 10 points in the first half but only 2 points in the second.

Last Tuesday the Wolverines embarked on their three-game winning streak by rallying past Bonneville 46-41 in the first basketball game played on the new Hailey court.

King had an outstanding all-around game, scoring 8 of her 11 points in the second half when Wood River stormed back from a 27-22 half-time deficit. Green added 10 of her team-high 19 points after the half.

Smith chipped in 7 points, Wheeler 5, Calzacorta 2 and Stark 2. The Wolverines shot 15-for-23 at the free throw line topped by Green’s 6-for-10.

Emily Smith pops from the baseline during last Tuesday’s home debut win over Bonneville of Idaho Falls. Express photo by David N. Seelig

On Thursday, visiting Wood River had a strong 18-point second period sparked by Wheeler’s pair of three-pointers and went on to defeat Mountain Home 48-45. Green had 15 of her team-high 20 points after half-time.

Adding to Wood River’s balanced scoring attack were Smith 6 points, Stark 6, King 6 and Calzacorta 4. Once again the Wolverines were proficient at the charity stripe, making 13 important free throws.

Coming up:

Wood River’s tough early-season schedule reached a peak Tuesday when the Wolverines (3-1) hosted the Hillcrest Knights (3-1) on the Hailey court. After a season-opening 67-53 loss to Bishop Kelly, Hillcrest beat Kuna 79-65, Pocatello 63-33 and Idaho Falls 70-40.

The Wolverines take Thanksgiving off, then resume Tuesday, Dec. 2 with a difficult road assignment at Declo (1-2). It will be the first Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference game of the season.

 

---

WOLVERINE NOTES—Green (19.5 ppg) was a slow starter in the first three games. She scored 45 points in the second half out of the 61 points she tallied against Vallivue, Bonneville and Mountain Home.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.