Titan girls finish up a year of rebuilding

“They didn’t get down, they just wanted to get better”

It’s been written and rewritten that this was going to be a long season, and it was, as the Crested Butte Titan girls basketball team finished the year 1-18, 0-8 in league play.
The reasons are all legitimate with a young team that got a late start on the season under the expert tutelage of second-year coach Mike Moran. Moran comes from a long and very successful high school coaching career in Arizona but stepped into a program that needed a lot of work here in Crested Butte.
Last year he had the luxury of several returning seniors. This year was completely different as he lost seven players to graduation and had to reboot the team from day one.
While the losses continued to pile up, the team kept working and they hit a peak on February 12 when they beat Cripple Creek/Lake City 37-24. The hope was that the win would then carry them into their final three games of the season and perhaps lead to another win, maybe even two.
They opened the final week of the regular season on Wednesday, February 18 against Cotopaxi. While Cotopaxi handled the Titans fairly easily in a season-opening scrimmage, the Titans were looking to build on momentum from the Cripple Creek win.
Unfortunately, the Titans fell back into their old habit of playing scared and starting off slowly as they fell behind to Cotopaxi 19-1 in the first half.
The Titans refocused during the halftime break and shut Cotopaxi down in the second half, including holding them scoreless in the third quarter, but the damage was done as the Titans fell 27-16.
“We played poorly and just couldn’t make a bucket,” says Moran. “We woke up in the second half but it was just too late.”
The girls returned home for their final game of the season in Mt. Olympus to face the Antonito Trojans on Thursday, February 19. Antonito is having one of their best seasons in the school’s long history but the game was by no means out of reach for the Titans.
Once again, a slow start plagued the Titans as they fell behind 7-2 before Moran called a time out. The Titans responded to Moran’s words, hustling for offensive boards to set up Sydney Buehler for a 14-foot jumper. The Titans’ press break started working as well and they finished the first quarter down by five points, well within striking distance.
Unfortunately, continued pressure by Antonito led to a series of turnovers by the Titans and easy baskets for Antonito. Despite the heroic efforts of the Titans to make up for their miscues, Antonito outscored the Titans 13-4 in the second quarter to take a 24-9 lead into halftime.
“We knew who their scorers are, we just lost track of them and we had another slow start,” says Moran.
The Titans held Antonito to just nine points in the second half with Erika Bremer, Courtney Kopf, Tara Mortell and Ariel Kilpatrick all hustling, but several missed opportunities on offense kept the Titans from closing the gap as they eventually fell 33-20.
“We hang in games with defense but we still struggle to score buckets,” says Moran.
The Titans finished the regular season in Sanford, one of the top teams in the league, on Saturday, February 21. While a blow-out for Sanford was expected, it never came fully to fruition as the Titans put one of their best efforts of the season together.
This time the Titans did not start out slow and were down just 6-5 at the end of the first quarter. Sanford clamped down for the next three quarters to hold off the Titans’ slim chance at an upset, eventually handing the Titans a 35-14 loss. Nevertheless, Moran was extremely proud of his team’s effort.
“We played our best game of the season, hands-down,” says Moran. “Played great defense, ran our offenses and reduced our turnovers. We played a real game. [Sanford] had to earn every one of their 35 points.”
With a league record of 0-8, the Titans entered the district tournament the last seed and fell to the number one-seeded Sargent in the first round on Tuesday, February 24, 56-5.
Looking back at the season, Moran was most impressed about his team’s determination and watching that play out over the season.
“The biggest change was that we were gaining confidence night in and night out,” says Moran. “They were committed to getting better and that’s a credit to their discipline and determination. They didn’t get down, they just wanted to get better.”
For those of us who were there this year, we can all say we saw the future from the start as the Titans girls basketball team made tremendous strides over the course of the season and the future looks bright.
“Their commitment has been so motivating to me,” says Moran. “They showed signs that they will be a very good basketball team next year. It’s been one of the hardest seasons for me but also the most rewarding.”