The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Total team effort
While it was no secret prior to the season that senior Emma Vosburg would be the teams’ leading scorer, the question was who would pick up the rest of the scoring.
The reality is; if your team relies solely on the scoring of one player, most teams can defend with a scheme as simple as a box-in-one.
So far, it appears that several players are now picking up their game to complement the efforts of Vosburg on offense, while the entire team defense continues to handcuff opponeants.
Such was the case this past weekend as the Lady Titans cruised to wins over Aguilar and Cotopaxi holding their opponents to an average of 25 points per game.
“We have been executing our press pretty well and that’s just frazzled people,” says Lady Titans coach MaryMike Haley. “Teams just don’t know what to do against full court ball pressure.”
The Lady Titans opened both games with their stifling full-court press for the entire first quarter, holding each team to a scant two points per team, per game.
On Friday, January 16 the Lady Titans press resulted in a 22-2 lead over Aguilar by the end of the first quarter.
Ever the sympathetic coach, Haley pulled off the press for the remainder of the game but the Lady Titans couldn’t help but continue to score points coasting to a 79-35 win.
While Vosburg put together another 30-point effort with 34 points in the game, junior Sydney Loyed proved potent from the perimeter as well hitting seven of 13 for a total of 14 points.
In addition to scoring nine points, freshman Sydney Jernigan pulled down 12 rebounds and senior Allie McFarland and freshman Toni Brown scored six points each.
The Lady Titans team attack continued on Saturday, January 17 as Crested Butte rolled to a 57-15 win over Cotopaxi.
Again, the full court press set the tone for the game early as Crested Butte built a 15-2 lead. Again, Haley pulled the press but the Lady Titans defense remained stout, even it’s half court design, holding Cotopaxi to just two points in the second quarter as well.
Haley looked to her bench for the rest of the game and the bench delivered outscoring Cotopaxi 25-11 in the second half.
Vosburg led the team with 19 points and 10 steals and Loyed continued to gather confidence on offense scoring 16 points.
Senior Jessie Frame opened up for six points in her role as a post player and Jernigan and senior Maggie Chlipala combined for 12 rebounds with six boards each.
Haley points to the contributions from the players around Vosburg and the team’s defense as the keys to their success as the season progresses.
“The younger girls are doing a great job of coming off the bench and doing their jobs,” says Haley. “We need everybody to produce.”
While the scoreboard shows a somewhat easy road trip for the Lady Titans, Haley is finding ways to keep her team focused as much as she can and will continue to harp on the details to keep her team sharp as the post-season draws near.
“I’m trying to fine tune and get them in shape and work on our defense,” says Haley. “Shooting and defense.”
The Lady Titans host Holy Trinity on Friday, January 23 at 5 p.m. and Centennial on Saturday, January 24 at 2:15 p.m.
