Lady Titans stumble through weekend series of tough games

They’ve got it, but just need to use it all four quarters

The entire Southern Peaks league is upside down right now, especially after the weekend of play from the Crested Butte Lady Titans.
The Lady Titans opened a three-game stretch last weekend at home against the Mountain Valley Indians on Thursday, February 4.
While coach MaryMike Haley keeps trying to get them to push the pace against their opponents, her team misses the boat sometimes. Such was the case in the first three quarters of the Mountain Valley contest.
Despite the pleading of Haley, the Lady Titans just couldn’t shift gears into overdrive against Mountain Valley to run away with the game.
On the plus side, while the fast break wasn’t happening, the Lady Titans displayed patience with their half-court offense.
Unfortunately, the shots just weren’t dropping for Crested Butte and the Indians pulled ahead 16-10 midway through the second quarter.
Junior Karleigh Dean sparked a late comeback, pulling down an offensive board and scoring and baskets from sophomore Sydney Jernigan and junior Shannon Holleran cut the Indian lead down to one with two minutes left in the half.
But then the bizarro Lady Titans’ team resurfaced, the lethargic and uninspired Lady Titans, and Mountain Valley closed the half with four points to take a two-bucket lead into halftime.
The teams traded baskets through the third quarter, capped by Holleran who reeled in another offensive board and scored at the buzzer to send the teams into the fourth quarter tied 29-29.
From then on it was a showcase of what the Lady Titans can do when firing on all pistons as they outscored Mountain Valley 23-6 in the final quarter to run away with a 52-35 win.
Holleran opened the charge with a steal and a lay-up; freshman Maddie Stichter followed suit with another steal and lay-up; and then Holleran lit up the scoreboard with consecutive baskets to put the Lady Titans ahead 38-33, forcing Mountain Valley coach to call a timeout.
The break proved fruitless as Crested Butte continued the pummeling. Senior Sydney Loyed buried a three-pointer and Stichter completed a three-point play with a basket and a free throw.
Mountain Valley called one more timeout to put in place their final stretch strategy of fouling the Lady Titans to put them on the line but the plan blew up in their face as Crested Butte hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to finish off Mountain Valley.
“They played as a team and made a conscious decision to take control of the game,” says Haley. “That’s my team. Unfortunately, that’s not my team all of the time.”
Such was the case the following evening as the Lady Titans hosted the Holy Trinity Tigers on Friday, February 5.
Holy Trinity handed the Lady Titans a tough two-point loss three weeks ago so Crested Butte was fired up to avenge the heart-breaking loss.
Loyed and Stichter opened the game with back-to-back three-pointers but the Tigers responded on their next three trips up the court to tie it up.
That was pretty much how the rest of the game went until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
It was a knock down, drag out battle as the Lady Titans carried their spark from the fourth quarter play in their game against Mountain Valley the night before through the first three quarters against Holy Trinity.
The Tigers started to pull away midway through the fourth quarter as their press started to take effect on the nerves of the young Lady Titans team.
Two Crested Butte turnovers resulted in a five-point rally by the Tigers as they pulled ahead 42-35.
But post players Holleran and Jernigan rallied their team back to within three points with just over a minute left to play. Loyed hit one of two free throws to pull within two points and the Lady Titans recovered the loose ball off of Loyed’s miss to set up a dramatic finish.
Their final attempt missed its mark though, and Holy Trinity broke through the Lady Titans pressure to hit a final three-pointer in the final seconds to finish Crested Butte off 47-42.
 “They definitely have moments when they play the way I know they can play,” says Haley. “Sometimes we just can’t finish the way we need to finish.”
The Lady Titans continued to struggle late in the game the next afternoon as they headed to Moffat.
Crested Butte led most of the game and built a six-point lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. But the loss of sophomore Toni Brown to an injury and Holleran to fouls left two big holes on the floor for the Lady Titans down the stretch.
Moffat pulled ahead with a minute left in the game and Haley called a timeout, telling her players to foul Moffat and make them earn it from the free throw line.
Despite the reminder of the late game strategy, the instructions somehow were lost once play resumed and Moffat managed to wind the clock down to emerge with a 42-39 win.
“Again, we couldn’t quite finish the game,” says Haley. “They’re still learning the game, learning to play as a team and finish games. That’s experience.”
The Lady Titans close the regular season on the road against Sierra Grande and Aguilar this weekend and will host the first round of the district tournament in mighty Mt. Olympus next week, date to be determined.
“We’ll just try to keep moving forward and stay optimistic,” adds Haley. “We’re the most talented team, there’s no doubt in my mind.”