Tag Archives: Wyoming Girls Basketball

Wyoming girls basketball team comes up big at crunch time in 47-43 win over Mona Shores in WKTV’s Tuesday Game of the Week

City of Wyoming, Local Sports, West Michigan, ,
Wyoming’s La’Anna Griffin steps to the line against Mona Shores. Griffin and Shakya Anderson led the Wolves with 12 points apiece. (WKTV Tuesday Game of the Week)



By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor

No matter the score or the situation, the Wyoming girls basketball team can never be counted out of a game.

The never-give-up attitude of the Wolves was never more evident than Tuesday when they hosted Mona Shores. Trailing for most of the second half, the Wolves continued to battle and eventually a late flurry propelled Wyoming to a 47-43 win.

“It was just a great team effort,” said Wyoming Coach Jesse Vasquez. “These girls just never quit. They never give up. They play with a lot of grit and toughness. They are hard to count out.”

Mona Shores tried numerous times to pull away from the Wolves in the second half, but could never put Wyoming away. Mona Shores was up 24-20 at halftime and led 34-31 at the end of the third quarter.

Wolves kept battling back

Twice during the fourth quarter the Sailors were up by five points and threatening to pull away, but the Wolves continued to battle back.



Wyoming’s Tamia Gayles prepares to shoot three free throws after getting fouled outside the arc. (WKTV Tuesday Game of the Week)


With less than a minute to go in the game, Mona Shores was up 43-40. The Wolves, however, came up with a big defensive stop and sophomore Tamia Gayles was fouled on a three-point shot on the offensive end of the floor. Gayles connected on the first two free throws, but missed the third attempt. Wyoming senior Ta’tyan Hardiman was there to pick her teammate up as she gathered in the rebound and then converted it for a basket putting the Wolves up 44-43 with 42 seconds remaining.



Wyoming’s Ta’tyana Hardiman gets the rebound off a missed free throw and scores to put the Wolves ahead 44-43 over Mona Shores. (WKTV Tuesday Game of the Week)



The Wyoming defense then came up big again forcing a Mona Shores turnover with 27 seconds remaining in the game. Mona Shores eventually fouled the Wolves and sent Gayles back to the free-throw line with 17 seconds remaining in the game. Gayles then drained both free throws giving the Wolves a three-point lead.

On the ensuing Mona Shores possession, the Sailors were fouled and went to the free-throw line, but missed both shots. Hardiman then split a pair of free throws for Wyoming with five seconds remaining to secure the win.

A total team effort

Like they have all season, Wyoming relied on a total team effort to earn the win. The Wolves had a balanced effort on offense as senior La’Anna Griffin and junior Shakya Anderson led the Wolves with 12 points apiece. Gayles added nine points, followed by sophomore Michaela Moore with seven points, sophomore Myah Nabors, four, and Hardiman, three.

“Sophomore starters relied on a lot”

“We start three sophomores and we rely on them a lot,” Vasquez said. “Michaela Moore, Myah Nabors and Tamia Gayles are young players, but they step up for us each and every night. Like all of our players they keep scrapping and never give up. We also have some great assistant coaches and they do a great job of coaching our players all the way up.”

The Wolves also received a big effort from Anderson. One of several key players who come in and provide big contributions off the bench, Anderson not only scored in double figures in points on offense, but also provided strong rebounding and defense.

“Shakya is a scrappy player,” Vasquez said. “She came off the bench and did a great job for us. We have a pretty deep team. We have a lot of players who can do a number of things for us. Anything can happen with the arsenal of players that we have.”

With the win, Wyoming improved to 14-4 overall and 9-2 in the OK Green Conference. The Wolves are tied for second place in the conference with Zeeland West, two games behind Muskegon who’s in first place at 11-0.

“All the credit goes to the kids,” Vasquez said. “They played very hard. They just kept fighting back. We still have a couple more weeks left and the state tournament left so we have a lot to play for still.” 

Wyoming girls fall just short in battle of conference unbeatens

City of Wyoming, Local Sports, Sports, West Michigan,
Wyoming’s La’Anna Griffin steps to the stripe. She had a team-high 11 rebounds. (WKTV/Ty Marzean)



By Ty Marzean

WKTV Contributor

First place in the OK Green was on the line in front of an electric crowd Friday night as Wyoming hosted the Muskegon Big Reds. Both teams were undefeated in the conference coming into the game.  

The Big Reds edged Wyoming in a 32-31 slugfest to take the top spot in the middle stage of the season.

The battle between the top two teams in the conference had a wild ending, including two technical fouls by Muskegon to allow Wyoming to set up a would-be game winner. 

“I’ve never been a part of an ending like that; very crazy,” said second-year Wyoming Coach Jesse Vasquez. 


Wyoming sophomore Tamia Gayles looks for an opening. (WKTV/Ty Marzean)



The first quarter ended at a 5-5 deadlock, with all of Wyoming’s points scored by sophomore guard Tamia Gayles, who finished with a team-high seven points.

Muskegon missed multiple three-point shots in the second quarter, which Wyoming senior forward La’Anna Griffin was able to gobble up off the board en route to an 11-rebound game. Griffin also added two points with 30 seconds left in the quarter to make it a 10-8 game.

Big Reds up 13-8 at halftime

Muskegon sophomore guard Mariah Sain hit a dagger from beyond the arc with one second left to make the halftime score 13-8 in favor of the Big Reds. Sain finished with a game-high 17 points.

Muskegon kept the defensive pressure on the Wolves, allowing only eight points in the third quarter, four of which came from late Wyoming free throws by Shakya Anderson and Myah Nabors to cut it to seven. Both Nabors and Anderson finished with five points.

Wolves grab 32 boards

“We have a deep bench,” said Vasquez, whose team collected 32 rebounds. “We look to stay fresh with the pressure defense we like to show.”

Sain and Nabors exchanged three-point buckets to start an exciting final frame.

Big Reds led by 10 in the fourth

Muskegon sophomore guard Camiyah Bonner put the Big Reds up by 10 with 4:31 remaining with a three-pointer.

Vasquez called a timeout to regroup his squad and the Wolves responded. The Wyoming defense gave up one point the rest of the way.

“The heart from these young ladies is unbelievable,” Vasquez said. “We didn’t have the best offensive showing, but the fact they never quit and just kept going forward shows you the heart they have.”

Hardiman cuts lead to five

Wolves senior Ta’tyana Hardiman hit a pivotal layup to close the gap to five, and that is when the game got interesting. 

Muskegon committed two technical fouls in the final minute to give Wyoming four free shots. The first set of two attempts went down easy for sophomore Michaela Moore. 

Griffin board and bucket cuts lead to one

With 22.2 seconds remaining, Griffin rebounded a Nabors miss and put it back for the score to cut Muskegon’s lead to one.

On the ensuing inbound came the next set of technical shots hampered with confusion. Muskegon’s Bonner was fouled and committed a technical foul on the same play. Moore attempted the first of two shots and missed, but the officials came together to correct the order, and Muskegon needed to shoot their free throws first, waiving off the Moore miss. Muskegon made one of the two attempts.

Moore then regrouped at the charity stripe to hit one of the two shots that made it 32-31 Muskegon.

Next, the Big Reds botched an inbound pass with 1.3 seconds to set up a final shot for Wyoming.

The Wyoming inbound pass put it in the hands of Gayles, who threw up a prayer that missed and sealed the Muskegon victory. 

“We don’t stop till the end of the game and tonight was the definition of that,” Vasquez explained. “I am beyond proud of how we competed till the end.” 

The Wolves have enjoyed an excellent season this year at 11-3. Last year they finished 12-11.
 

“The work the core group put in this summer and fall … they just keep growing closer together,” Vasquez said. “They are everything this program stands for. They play hard, smart and together. This group of ladies are a team, and they come together each and every day.”

Wyoming welcomes Zeeland West (8-4) and Zeeland East (3-10) their next two games (Feb. 2 and 6) to begin the second half of the OK Green schedule.

Wyoming girls basketball team in “mid-season form” with 61-17 win over Comstock Park Tuesday

City of Wyoming, Local Sports, Sports, , ,
Wyoming girls basketball Coach Jesse Vasquez talks to his team during a timeout. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)



By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor



It may have been the third game of the season for the Wyoming girls basketball team, but the performance the Wolves put on looked more like a team in mid-season form.

Blending a potent offense with a stingy defense, the Wolves claimed a 61-17 win against visiting Comstock Park Tuesday.

With a host of talented players back from last year’s squad that finished with a winning record along with some promising newcomers, the Wolves started strong and finished even stronger against the visiting Panthers.

Leading 13-8 at the end of the first quarter, Wyoming began to ramp up the offense and lock down even tighter on the defensive end of the floor during the second quarter. Wyoming opened the second quarter going on a 16-3 run to take a 29-11 lead midway through the quarter. Their swarming defense forced Comstock Park into numerous turnovers during the run while the offense was in overdrive.


The Wolves began to heat up from beyond the three-point arc and whatever outside shots were missed were converted into putbacks on offensive rebounds as the Wolves, led by La’Anna Griffin and Michaela Moore, controlled the offensive boards.



Wyoming’s La’Anna  Griffin (15) goes around a Comstock Park defender during Tuesday’s game. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)

Wyoming closed out the first half playing even stingier defense as it held Comstock Park scoreless the remainder of the half while building the lead to 35-11 by halftime.

“All week we’ve been talking about doing the little things,” said Wyoming coach Jesse Vasquez. “About out-working and out-rebounding teams. We have a lot of great shooters on our team and if we dominate the glass and get the loose balls our offense can take over games.”

That was exactly the formula the Wolves used to take the game over against Comstock Park. Wyoming kept the pressure up during the second half. The Wolves outscored the Panthers 14-6 during the third quarter to increase the lead to 49-17.

The fourth quarter was even more impressive as the Wyoming defense held Comstock Park scoreless while scoring 12 points on the offensive end of the floor.



Wyoming guard Myah Nabors (13) sets up the offense during Tuesday’s game against Comstock Park.(WKTV/Greg Chrapek)



Wyoming dictated the pace of play during the game. The Wolves also used every player available during the game as they were substituting like a hockey team rolling out fresh lines. That total-team effort was obvious by looking at the scorebook. A total of 10 Wolves scored with four Wyoming players reaching double figures.

Tamia Gayles led with 15 points

Sophomore Tamia Gayles led the Wolves in scoring with 15 points, while seniors Griffin and Madileena Longoria and sophomore Myah Nabors scored 10 each. Moore, a sophomore, added eight points followed by juniors Shakya Anderson and Ly’Nia King and sophomore Arianna Bennitt with two points apiece.

“We’re a pretty deep team,” Vasquez said. “As deep as we are it’s pretty easy to play at the pace we do. Having two or three fresh bodies to always rotate in makes my job easier.”

Having a strong core of veterans also helps. Wyoming lost just two seniors from last year’s squad. Along with the veteran players returning, the Wolves moved up three sophomores to the varsity along with fellow sophomore Nabors who saw extensive playing time last season as a freshman.

“We have some returning players like Myah Nabors, La’Anna Griffin, Madileena Longoria and Shakya Anderson,” Vasquez said. “Add in the sophomores like Michaela Moore and Tamia Gayles. I really like our guard play. We have three really good guards in Tamia, Myah and Michaela and two solid post players.”

With the win, Wyoming improved to 2-1 for the season. Wyoming opened the season in a big way by scheduling the toughest competition it could find in defending Division 1 state champion Rockford. While the Wolves fell 69-23, the game provided the team with the toughest test available. Wyoming rebounded from that game to defeat Grand Rapids Christian 52-36.

“We wanted to toughen our schedule up,” Vasquez said. “We want to play the tough teams and get to that level. One game does not define a season.”

The rugged non-league schedule also prepares the Wolves for what will be a competitive OK-Green Conference season.

“Our conference is pretty deep,” Vasquez said. “Muskegon is right up there. Reeths-Puffer and Zeeland West are going to be up there and you can’t count out Mona Shores. If we do the things we talk about we will be right up there too.”            


Wyoming girls come up short in WKTV Friday Game of the Week with Muskegon

City of Wyoming, Sports, West Michigan, , ,
Shakya Anderson led Wyoming with 15 points, followed by Ratliff with 11. (Courtesy, Wyoming High School)



By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor

While the Wyoming girls basketball team came up short in a 50-44 loss Friday against league rival Muskegon, the game was another positive step forward for a Wolves team that is making substantial progress this season.

Last season, Wyoming finished with a 4-18 record. With two regular-season games left on the schedule, the Wolves are just one win away from tripling last year’s win total.

“We have been making tremendous progress,” said first-year Wyoming coach Jesse Vasquez. “These girls have been working hard every single day. They want to get better. They are a great group to coach and it’s great to see the love they have for each other and the love they have for the team.”

Vasquez also said the Wolves hate to lose, and that was evident during Friday’s game with Muskegon. Despite trailing by 13 points to Muskegon at halftime, the Wolves were not about to give in and battled the Lady Reds to the final seconds.

“Overall, we had a great second half,” Vasquez said. “Muskegon did a real good job of taking away our inside game in the first half. During the second half we concentrated on getting the ball inside. When we get the ball inside good things happen.”

Trailing 25-12 at the half, Wyoming began to chip away at the Muskegon lead during the second half. Senior Aaliyiah Ratliff hit a pair of three-point shots to loosen up the Muskegon defense and get some momentum going for Wyoming early in the third quarter.



Wyoming’s Aaliyah Ratliff scored 11 points. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)



Down 34-21 halfway through the third quarter, the Wolves went on a 6-0 run to cut the Muskegon lead to 34-27 by the end of the quarter. Shakya Anderson scored all six of the points as she was able to get the ball in the paint. Anderson closed out the scoring with a traditional three-point play after getting fouled on a basket in the lane with 1:32 remaining in the quarter.

Wolves end game with a 14-5 run

Muskegon turned up the pressure in the early minutes of the final quarter and was able to rebuild the lead to double digits. Wyoming, however, refused to fold and rallied in the final four minutes of the game. Trailing 45-30 with less than four minutes to go, the Wolves closed out the game by going on a 14-5 run. Ratliff again started the run with a trey. The Wolves then pounded the ball inside to Anderson and La’Anna Griffin with the duo combining to score nine of Wyoming’s final 11 points.

“They (Wyoming) hung in there,” said Muskegon Coach Bernard Loudermill. “My girls did a real good job of containing them early and we continued to be patient on offense.”

Muskegon was led on offense by freshman guard Mariah Sain who finished with 19 points while fellow freshman Aaliyah Winston added nine points for the Lady Reds who improved to 13-7 overall and 10-2 in the conference.

“At the end of the day, it feels good to get a tough conference win like this,” Loudermill said. “It’s always good when you can get a win on the road, especially at a tough place like Wyoming.”

Anderson led Wyoming with 15 points, followed by Ratliff, 11; and Griffin, seven. Anderson and Griffin also led the Wolves in rebounding with seven apiece.

Vasquez also was pleased with how the Wolves played defensively against a Muskegon team that features plenty of talented offensive players.

“Defense has been our M.O. all year,” Vasquez said. “As long as I’m the coach here that is going to be how it is. We are going to play tough defense. Offensively, I think we moved the ball well, especially in the second half. In the first half I thought there was a little too much dribbling.”



Wyoming Coach Jesse Vasquez talks to his team. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)



‘The future looks bright’

While the Wolves were disappointed with the loss, the overall experience gave the team more reason to be optimistic about the future, especially with just two seniors on the roster.

“The future looks bright,” Vasquez said. “When me and my assistant Cody (Browneye) took over we knew the cupboard was not bare, it was fully stocked. We just had to coach them up. We are very excited about how the season is going and how the future looks.”


Wyoming closes out the regular season next week with a pair of games. The Wolves are at Zeeland West on Tuesday and return to Zeeland on Friday to take on Zeeland East.        

Ratliff scores season-high 30 points to lead Wyoming girls Friday

City of Wyoming, Sports, West Michigan, , ,



(Courtesy, Wyoming High School)




By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor


Wyoming senior Aaliyah Ratliff poured in a season-best 30 points to help lead the way for the Wyoming girls basketball team as they overcame a slow start to defeat Zeeland East 55-33.

After falling behind 12-2 to start the game, Wyoming went on a 12-0 run to end the first quarter and get back in the game.

“It was a big win for us coming off two tough losses to Muskegon and Zeeland West,” Wyoming Coach Jesse Vasquez said. “To bounce back against a good Zeeland East team gives us a real shot of momentum going into next week.”

The sizzling shooting from Ratliff also provided a big boost of momentum during Friday’s game. Ratliff connected on five three-point shots in a row during a span in the third and fourth quarter that turned the game around.

“She had a couple of 20-point games this season,” Vasquez said. “She averages about 13 points per game, but she shows in practice every day that she has the ability to make tough shots. She got in a rhythm in the third quarter where everything was falling.”

The Wyoming offense also received a boost from Maddie Longoria, who finished with 10 points for the game including a pair of three-point shots.

With the win, Wyoming improved to 8-7 overall, 3-4 in the conference.

“I thought our girls did a real good job of responding to adversity,” Vasquez said. “The girls did a really good job of staying together and staying the course and ended up pulling it out.”

Wyoming girls defeat Comstock Park 45-28 for a quick 2-1 start

Citizen Journalism, City of Wyoming, Sports, West Michigan,
(WKTV)

By Cris Greer

WKTV Managing Editor

greer@wktv.org



Coming off a 4-17 season, the Wyoming girls basketball team is ready to turn the page, jumping out to a 2-1 record with a 45-28 road win over Comstock Park Tuesday.

First-year coach Jesse Vasquez said though they’re taking it one game at a time, the team has its sights set on competing for an OK Green championship.

“You have to have high goals and high standards to achieve big things,” said Vasquez, whose Wolves finished 1-13 in the conference last year. “I believe they’re buying into the things our coaching staff is preaching every day. The more success you have along the way the more you keep buying in and wanting to work.

“Last year was a rough year. This year, we’re getting there every day.”

Sophomore Shakya Anderson led Wyoming with 20 point and nine rebounds, including 16 points in the first half alone.

“She’s been pretty good the last two games,” Vasquez said. “She had 15 boards the second game of the year. She’s big in the post.”

Senior leader Aaliyah Ratliff, high scorer the first two games, added eight points against Comstock Park.

Sophomore Meneliza McGee led with four steals against CP and five against Coopersville earlier.

“McGee is a defensive catalyst,” Vasquez said. “She sets the tone for our defense.”

Freshman Myah Nabors added nine points and five assists.

“We have a lot of skill and it’s now just getting them to play together,” Vesquez said. “If we can believe in each other all the time, we’re going to be dangerous.”