Lady Titans take two at weekend tournament

Next home game January 8

The Crested Butte Lady Titans head into the Christmas break with a solid run at the High Country Tournament, winning two of three games.

The weekend results improve their record to 5-2 with two more games on the schedule before they head into league play.
The team put together a strong week of workouts prior to the tournament, so much so that coach Brandin Hamilton was able to add more plays to the team’s repertoire.
“We’ve had some good practices and I put in some new plays and wanted to see how they’d work at the tournament,” says Hamilton.
The tournament was new territory for the Lady Titans, facing three teams for the first time. Hamilton did some research on their opponents, and knew it would be a good test for his team.
“I knew it would be competitive and I was hoping we could get two wins,” says Hamilton.
The Lady Titans opened the weekend Friday, December 17 against Platte Canyon from Bailey, Colo.
The two teams played even hoops through the first two quarters and the Lady Titans took a slim three-point lead into halftime.
But Platte Canyon lost their size in the third quarter as their big post player fell into foul trouble and Crested Butte’s post players senior Shannon Holleran and junior Sydney Jernigan pounced, led by Holleran.
“Basically, Shannon just took over and Sydney was just eating up offensive boards,” says Hamilton. “It’s a great one-two punch.”
The Lady Titans erupted on a 12-4 scoring run in the third quarter to take a 34-23 lead, and traded baskets with Platte Canyon in the fourth quarter to finish with a 43-33 win.
Holleran led all scorers with 16 points, followed by junior Sydney Jernigan with nine points and junior Natalie Bowen added six.
Crested Butte then found themselves in a classic physical showdown with West Grand out of Kremmling. Typically, the Lady Titans see that style of play out of their Southern Peaks League opponents, so Crested Butte was ready.
The two teams went into the halftime notched in a 15-15 tie before Crested Butte scratched out a three-point lead at the end of three.
They held tough through the fourth quarter to build on their lead and close with a 35-29 win.
Eight Lady Titans contributed on offense, led again by Holleran who dropped in nine points, and sophomore point guard Madie Stichter continued to take on her role at point guard.
“I was really proud of how the girls played that game,” says Hamilton. “It was a tough-fought win. Madie’s floor leadership really came together.”
Crested Butte closed the weekend later that Saturday against a team from Granby, Middle Park. Both teams came into the game 2-0, and while the tournament was a round-robin format, the game turned out to be the championship showdown of the weekend.
Middle Park came out with a high-pressure defense pressing the Lady Titans from the opening possession.
Crested Butte handled the press through the first quarter to stay within a point of the Middle Park team but as time wore on, the Lady Titans wore out.
They managed to score just two points in the second quarter and one lone point in the third eventually falling 41-23 to Middle Park and taking second place in the tournament.
“They were good,” says Hamilton of the Middle Park team, “similar to what we’ll see at the higher end of our league. We were just so emotionally invested and physically invested and we just got wore out. We were getting good looks—we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”
Overall, Hamilton likes what he sees out of his team and looks forward to the start of league play in January.
“I was happy with the weekend,” says Hamilton. “We’re sitting right at that middle of the pack but we have the potential to be a really good team.”
The Lady Titans return to the hard court for workouts on December 28. Their next home game will be on Saturday, January 8 against Lake County. Tip off for the day of games will be at noon and there will be another halftime show complete with raffle prizes and another shot at winning cold hard cash.