THREE FORKS — At the start of the fourth quarter at the 2018 Imery’s Classic Invitational Tournament, the Three Forks Wolves girls basketball team was on the verge of a comeback. Down by 10 points and with a 30-game win streak on the line, the Wolves outscored Fairfield 14-10 in the eight-minute period, but it wasn’t enough. Saturday was their first loss since the 2017 state basketball tournament.
“We were playing an awesome fourth quarter and it’s just that little bit of inexperience,” junior Kendall Lynn said.
“And then at the end of the game, we just started pressing and putting on pressure, because we thought we could get them frustrated and catch our lead back,” senior Kyle Olson agreed. “It definitely was hard, and they played strong, so we just needed to work a little harder earlier and get that momentum.”
Three Forks lost its share of talent from last year’s team, as many teams do when seniors graduate, but Olson said the Wolves were still hoping to continue the streak. When it was snapped, how does a team bounce back?
“It’s definitely a position where we can work on things and get to know each other and build up each other,” Olson said.
“You know what? It just shows us we lost a lot of good players last year, and it shows us what we need to work on and that we’re ready to work on it,” Lynn said.
The Wolves have only one player on their squad who had started a varsity game before this year, so while the loss hurts, it’s nice to have less pressure and work on getting back to the basics.
“I think we need to keep staying aggressive and really work on our defensive side,” Olson said, “because I feel like offense comes easier than defense, like defense works into offense.”
But through it all, the positivity is truly the greatest characteristic of this team.
“That’s obviously our goal, to make another state championship run,” Lynn said about what’s next.
“Now it’s a new day,” Olson finished. “Now we’re looking to move forward.”
