GREEN RIVER — The regular season closed Friday night with rivalry intensity and community impact as Green River High School hosted Rock Springs High School for the final basketball games of the year, ahead of regionals, doubling as Love Local Night.
Green River completed the sweep, with the Lady Wolves earning a 60-30 win and the Wolves’ boys holding off Rock Springs 44-37.
Between games, the schools announced they had combined to raise $27,061.03 through their Love Local fundraising efforts. The money will remain in the community to assist families and residents in need.
The night was also marked by frequent whistles. A combined 97 free throws were attempted across the two games.
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Green River Girls 60, Rock Springs 30
The Lady Wolves set the tone early behind senior Isa Vasco, who scored the first 10 points of the game as Green River jumped out to an 8-0 lead. Vasco accounted for all eight points during that opening run and helped push the advantage to 16-3 by the end of the first quarter.
Green River led 27-11 at halftime and continued to apply defensive pressure in the third, holding Rock Springs scoreless for the opening minutes of the half. The Lady Wolves built a 40-18 lead with just over three minutes left in the third quarter and carried a 44-21 advantage into the fourth.
Senior Sophia Arnold powered the second-half surge, finishing with 21 points, including 14 after the break. Vasco matched her with 21 points of her own.
Green River went 18 of 30 from the free throw line, while Rock Springs shot 32 free throws and made 13. The teams combined for 62 attempts at the stripe in the girls game alone.
Green River Boys 44, Rock Springs 37
The boys game was a defensive battle that tightened down the stretch.
The teams were tied 5-5 midway through the first quarter before Jake Demaret recorded a block that led to a fast-break basket by Dax Taylor, giving Green River a 7-5 edge. After Rock Springs tied the game again at 7-7 late in the period, Demaret converted two free throws and followed with a dunk to spark a run that put the Wolves ahead 13-7 at the end of the first.
Rock Springs chipped away in the second quarter and took its first lead at 18-17 on a fadeaway from senior Antonio Cortez with just over two minutes left in the half.
The back-and-forth continued in the third. The game was tied at 22-22 and again at 24-24 before Adam Robertson buried a 3-pointer to give Green River the lead. After a timeout, the senior guard hit another from beyond the arc, igniting a closing run that pushed the Wolves ahead 35-25 entering the fourth.
The Tigers rallied late. A 3-pointer by Cortez cut the deficit to six, and an and-one from Boston James trimmed it to 35-32 with 2:41 remaining. James later had a chance to tie the game at the line but split a pair, leaving Rock Springs trailing 35-34 with under two minutes left.
Green River sealed the game at the free throw line. Taylor made 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished 10 of 12 from the stripe, scoring 18 points to lead the Wolves. As a team, Green River went 9 of 12 at the line in the final quarter and 15 of 18 for the game. They did not hit a field goal in the final quarter.
Robertson added 12 points on four 3-pointers, including nine points in the third quarter. James led Rock Springs with 15 points after scoring just three in the first half, and Cortez added 11.
The teams combined for 23 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, slowing the final minutes of an otherwise tightly contested game.
