CB Lady Titans basketball team advances in post season play

Look to upset number one team

Despite dropping their final two league games of the regular season, the Lady Titans are playing some of their best basketball heading into the post-season and beat Antonito in the first round on Monday, February 25 to keep their season alive.
Crested Butte finished the regular season dropping a couple of tough losses to league opponents Sanford and Del Norte. Sanford is one of the top teams in the league and put the wood to the Lady Titans early on in the game to build a 16-point lead by halftime.
Nevertheless, the Lady Titans turned a corner during the halftime break and battled back to cut Sanford’s lead down to five points.
Sanford turned it around to rebuild their lead over the course of the fourth quarter and finished the Lady Titans off 56-41.
“That was a tough one,” says coach Marymike Haley. “We would start to catch up and they were just really well disciplined, kept it cool and stayed calm. It’s hard when we get back in a game but don’t have the mental toughness to finish it.”
Crested Butte suffered a similar fate in the first quarter of their game against Del Norte on Saturday, February 23. Del Norte brings a high-powered, fast-paced game of basketball to the court and their pace frazzled the Lady Titans early as Del Norte built a 14-3 lead.
But key steals off of the Lady Titans’ press and hard work in the paint by Elisabet Desmarais and Elizabeth Kilpatrick helped turn the tide.
“We started to calm down and realized we were just a little intimidated at the start,” explains Haley. “When we start to gain momentum, it’s hard to stop us.”
Crested Butte outscored Del Norte 11-2 in the second quarter to pull within two points and, despite missing Maddie Stichter to foul trouble, maintained control of the game through the third quarter to take a 30-24 lead.
Foul trouble proved troublesome for the Lady Titans down the stretch as Del Norte played the entire fourth quarter in the bonus and hit several key free throws.
Del Norte pulled ahead by two with under a minute left in regulation but Karleigh Collins took a pass at the top of the key and drained the game-tying bucket to force overtime.
The Lady Titans would eventually lose three more players to fouls in the overtime and fall to Del Norte 55-47, finishing the regular season 4-6 in league play.
“They had Del Norte but we just couldn’t finish,” says Haley. “The frustrating part is we can play with anyone—we just lack that mental toughness at the end of the game.”
Crested Butte opened the post-season with a “pigtail” game against Antonito on Monday, February 25.
This time the Lady Titans left no option for their opponent as they jumped all over Antonito with a stifling full-court press to force turnovers and take a 17-4 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Crested Butte suffered through a four-minute scoreless drought to open the second quarter but Ali McGuire drained a 14-foot jumper to ignite a 16-5 scoring run and take a 31-13 lead into halftime.
Crested Butte continued to pour it on in the third quarter with players coming in off the bench and contributing at both ends of the court as the Lady Titans cruised to a 55-42 win.
Shannon Costello led the team with 13 points, McGuire added in eight and Collins came off the bench to score five.
“Everybody who played, scored, which was awesome,” says Haley. “Hopefully we can carry that momentum into the next playoff game.”
Crested Butte faced the number one team in the league, Sangre de Cristo, in their next playoff game on Tuesday, February 26.