The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“They’re starting to turn the corner”
The work in progress continues and it appears every game, the Crested Butte Lady Titans basketball team takes another step forward.
Just a week ago they suffered a brutal 40-point loss to league opponent Del Norte. La Veta beat Del Norte by 15 points earlier this season so based on comparison scoring, it looked as if the lady Titans would suffer another brutal loss when they faced La Veta on Saturday in mighty Mt. Olympus.
But coach Brandin Hamilton, assistant Sarah Pernick and the team put in a solid week of practice focusing on physical play battling for rebounds and breaking down their man-to-man offense as they readied for La Veta.
“It was the most energy we’ve had since the first week of practice,” says Hamilton. “I felt pretty good going in.”
In the end, the week paid off for the Lady Titans as they matched up strong against La Veta for most of the game before eventually falling 47-28.
Turnovers plagued the Lady Titans in the first quarter but their defense bailed them out as they held La Veta to eight points in the first quarter.
Crested Butte started taking better care of the ball in the second quarter opening with a bucket from Shannon Holleran scoring off a backdoor cut.
The Lady Titans then broke into a press and rattled off two straight buckets. Senior Karleigh Dean pulled down an offensive board and scored and sophomore Madie Stichter buried a six-foot jumper to pull the Lady Titans to within three midway through the second quarter.
La Veta threatened to put the game out of reach in the third quarter opening with a 10-2 run before Hamilton called a timeout.
La Veta then switched to a zone defense and the lady Titans took advantage of it firing off the next six points in a row. Senior Sarah Rochniak drained a jump shot from the corner, sophomore Elisabeth Desmarais scored a bank shot high off the glass and Stichter closed the quarter with a bucket to cut La Veta’s lead back down to 10 points.
A 12-2 run by La Veta to open the fourth quarter finished the Lady Titans off for good, but freshman Shannon Costello knocked down a jump shot at the buzzer for one last Lady Titans’ hurrah.
“For three quarters, it was a game,” says Hamilton. “La Veta just started hitting their shots and we were not.”
Despite the loss, Hamilton saw his team take another positive step and they are primed for a win this weekend.
“They’re starting to turn the corner,” says Hamilton.
The Lady Titans host Custer County on Friday at 5 p.m. and then Sargents on Saturday, February 12 at 4 p.m.
