The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Explosive first quarter leads to win
For the first time this season, the Crested Butte Lady Titans, every one of them, were firing on all pistons from the opening tip-off to build an insurmountable lead and finish off the South Park Burros 59-27.
“They all showed up,” says coach MaryMike Haley. “We definitely laid it on them.”
Haley would be the first to admit though that she has no idea why then and why all at the same time. Whether it was because two of the players’ fathers were in the stands? Or was it because point guard Maddie Stichter was under the influence of a wicked flu, forcing her into the single-mindedness of her point guard duties?
Whatever the cause, the Lady Titans were on fire, opening up a 24-3 lead in the first quarter.
“Everything we’ve been working on the past two months clicked,” says Haley. “It was really nice to see.”
Everyone contributed on offense with Stichter, Shannon Costello and Elisabeth Desmarais doing most of the damage and the entire team gelled on defense to hobble the Burros.
The early lead allowed Haley to turn to her bench to get younger players key varsity time over the course of the next three quarters.
Despite the inexperience of her bench players, the months of practice paid off as they outscored South Park 35-24 over the three quarter stretch.
“We do have a tendency to play down to teams and that didn’t happen, which is great,” says Haley. “I think we haven’t really figured out who we are as a team and it was nice to see them all play together like that.”
Haley hopes to see her team carry the momentum from the South Park game into three big-league matchups this week, as the Lady Titans face Custer County, Antonito and Sangre de Cristo three days in a row.
“Custer County is good. I just want us to show up,” says Haley. “We can come out of any game with a win if we can get everyone playing at the same time.”
The Lady Titans tip off against Custer County on Thursday, February 14 in mighty Mt. Olympus at 3 p.m. Crested Butte will remain at home on Friday, February 15 to host Antonito at 5 p.m. and then hit the road to take on Sangre de Cristo on Saturday.
