The Grand Forks junior girls basketball team got off to a slow start, falling behind by eight points in the first quarter of their game Wednesday against J.L. Crowe of Trail. Unfortunately, the Wolves couldn't recover and fell 35-23 despite a strong fourth quarter.
"We struggled early against their pressure," said coach Craig Lindsay. "They've got a pretty good, speedy team. They're very aggressive, particularly on defence. With all the Rossland kids coming over, they've got a big pool to choose from. But we still should've competed better."
GFSS showed signs of life in the second half as they cut a 16 points deficit down to 10 with some timely steals on the press.
"It was definitely one of our better jobs of running our zone press," said Lindsay. "We were able to force some turnovers and get some easy baskets. We were also able to get into our offence and make some better passes."
Lindsay said the team struggled early to run the offence and make good passes.
"When we did get the ball inside, we missed easy shot after easy shot," he added. "But we looked much stronger in the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late."
Lindsay hopes the team will be able to build on the second half success as they travel to Osoyoos on Friday for a tournament there.
"The team is improving," he said. "The girls are learning their positions and how to get open and get to the basket. I think we can do pretty well this weekend. It'll be another good test."
GFSS opens the tournament Friday at 1 p.m. against Barriere. At 4 p.m., the Wolves take on the hosts. The tournament wraps up Saturday at noon for a rematch against Boundary Central from Midway.