The Griswold girls basketball team only picked up two wins in the 2019-20 campaign. They already have one under their belt now in 2020-21 after an opening road win over the Southwest Valley Timberwolves 45-41.

It was a tight game throughout with Griswold up one after the first and Southwest Valley ahead by three at halftime 26-23. The Tigers grabbed the lead back in the third quarter and built the advantage to as much as ten in the fourth. The Tigers had to hold off a furious finish by the T’wolves though. Halle Pearson knocked down a runner and the Timberwolves got a steal that Norah Lund turned into a bucket to get within 1 at 42-41 with about 30 seconds left. Brenna Rossell was then fouled on the next inbound for Griswold and she came up big at the foul line. She knocked down both freebies to push the lead back to 3. Southwest Valley then threw an errant pass to waste their next possession and Griswold used some nice passing to run the clock down to 6 seconds before Rossell was fouled again. She hit 1 out of 2 to seal the Tiger win.

After the game Griswold Head Coach Chris Hamilton said he was proud of the improvement shown by his team that brought back almost everyone from last year.

Josie Mundorf had a couple of big buckets to get Griswold back in front in the third quarter and finished with 12 points. Coach Hamilton said she has become a big leader.

Coach Hamilton was happy for Rossell to get the chance to hit those big free throws down the stretch after she missed most of last season.

McKenna Weichman also had 12 points for the Tigers. Griswold will next host Heartland Christian on Friday. Southwest Valley was led by 14 points from Maggie Haer. The Timberwolves head to Shenandoah on Tuesday night.