The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Stout defense leads to win
With coach MaryMike Haley forced to watch from the stands due to an ejection from a game last week, the onus was upon the team and fill-in coach Brandin Hamilton to rise to the occasion against the Creede Miners Friday night in Mt. Olympus.
“It was tough watching the team play,” admits Haley. “Brandin did a good job. I think [senior] Sydney Loyed did a good job of leadership out on the floor.”
Fortunately, good was good enough as the Lady Titans eked out a 37-34 win against a team they handled fairly easily earlier in the season.
The game started out rough for the Lady Titans as they brawled under the Creede basket for shots but couldn’t get them to drop. Pressure by the Lady Titans defense offered up a couple of steals and easy lay-ups but Creede’s tenacity resulted in a five-point lead by the end of the first quarter.
Freshman Maddie Stichter pulled down an offensive rebound and scored, and then broke up-floor to receive a pass from junior Shannon Holleran to cut the Creede lead down to one.
But sophomore post player Sydney Jernigan soon fell into foul trouble and the Miners hit four free throws in a row to close the half ahead 19-14.
The Lady Titans opened the second half with high-pressure defense to cut into Creede’s lead once again, and a three-pointer from Loyed had the Lady Titans on top 21-19 early in the third quarter.
Jernigan came back into the game to score a key basket, and sophomore Toni Brown stole the ball and kicked it ahead to junior Karleigh Dean to hold the Lady Titans’ one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Creede responded their next time up the court, but Jernigan and Dean connected again for back-to-back buckets to build a three-point Lady Titans lead with one minute left to play.
Creede threatened to tie the game down the stretch, but the Lady Titans defense clamped down to seal the 37-34 win.
“They played well for having to be shuffled around with different coaches,” says Haley.
The Lady Titans are headed back into the fire this weekend with three games on tap. They open the weekend at home against Mountain Valley on Thursday, February 4 at 5 p.m. They follow that with a rematch against Holy Trinity on Friday, February 5 at 5 p.m., team they lost to by two points earlier this season.
The Lady Titans then hit the road on Saturday, February 6 to face Moffat.
“We have a tough weekend ahead of us—hopefully we’ll be ready to play,” says Haley.
