There were predictable signs of rust after the nearly three-week holiday layoff, but the Wood River High School girls' basketball team returned to action on a positive note Tues-day with a 53-30 win over Filer.
Junior post Haylee Thomp-son (19 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, 1 blocked shot) couldn't be stopped by the Wildcats. Junior guard Kaitana Martinez (14 points, 9 assists) had her best passing game in just three periods of action.
Thompson, a punishing 6-1 forward who has developed solid post moves, had a consis-tent effort scoring 3-5-5-6 points by quarter. It was her 10th double-digit scoring effort. She led the Wolverine board effort that out-rebounded Filer 30-19.
Leading by only six points at half, 22-16, Wood River picked up its defensive intensity and ball movement after halftime and went on a 12-0 run for an 18-point cushion. Filer was lim-ited to 34% field goal shooting.
Much of Wood River's of-fense in the final three quarters was due to penetration and passing by Martinez (19.6 ppg). Her Wolverine teammates did a good job of converting the passes—Hailey shot 51% from the field with 23 field goals.
Other WRHS contributors were Taylor Hayes (6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals), Cheyenne Swanson (6 points, 5 boards, 2 steals, 2 assists), Hunter Thompson (4 rebounds), Jade Glenn (4 points, 2 boards), Allie Hesteness (2 points, 4 assists) and Haillie Taylor (2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals).
Filer senior guard Jessica Tews (9 points, 4 rebounds) topped the Wildcats. Filer had a bad break when one of its taller players, 5-8 senior McKenzi Jasper, was bloodied above the eye by an inadvertent Haylee Thompson elbow in the first quarter and had to have stitches done at the hospital.
Wood River (9-1, 3-1 league) took its boast of second place in the six-team Great Basin Con-ference into Thursday night's home game against league-leading Twin Falls (10-2, 4-0). The Bruins returned to action Tuesday with a 61-45 home win over Century of Pocatello.
In third place in the GBC is Jerome (8-4, 2-2). The Tigers fell at home to Mountain Home by a 53-45 score Tuesday night.
Wood River has rescheduled non-conference games with Hillcrest of Idaho Falls on Sat-urday, Jan. 9, the varsity start-ing their game about 4 p.m.
Hillcrest (4-8) had a rocky return from the holiday with a 58-51 loss at Skyline (8-4) Tues-day in a game with 45 turn-overs. Wood River beat Hill-crest 51-33 in Hailey Nov. 20.
The Wolverines visit Can-yon Ridge in Twin Falls Wednesday, Jan. 12 and host Burley Friday, Jan. 14 as the GBC league schedule picks up steam throughout January.
Hillcrest downs WR boys
The Wood River boys came up with a better effort but still dropped the season series against Hillcrest of Idaho Falls with a 58-35 loss on the Hailey hardwoods Wednesday night.
Hillcrest, a 43-point home winner over Wood River Dec. 11, captured a 23-point road win 58-35 in Hailey. The Knights (7-2, averaging 61.4 ppg) led 30-17 at halftime and scored in dou-ble digits each period led by Tyler Cunningham and Blake Phippen with 13 points each.
The Hailey scorers were Stone Sutton 11 points, Alex Padilla 7, Kevin Jensen 5, Quentin Dowdle 4, Dylan Carey 2, Luis Chavez 2, Mica Merritt 2 and Jake Vegwert 2. The Wol-verines shot well at the free throw line for the second straight game, making 11-of-20.
Wood River (0-7, 0-1 league) won't be playing until Tuesday.
Due to a scheduling conflict, Canyon Ridge High School had to reset its Jan. 7 home games with Wood River. Those games are now scheduled for Monday, Jan. 24, freshmen and JV at 5 p.m. and varsity 7 p.m.
So Wood River's next game is at home, Tuesday, Jan. 11 against defending State 4A champion Twin Falls (6-1, 1-0). The Bruins avenged their only loss with a 59-54 home win over Century Wednesday.
