The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I’m convinced we’ll bounce back”
by Than Acuff
Crested Butte Titans girls basketball team head coach Mike Moran knew it was going to be a rough outing against Antonito on Saturday, December 10. Antonito is the pre-season favorite to win the 1A state title this year and has yet to find any team in Colorado that can keep up. In fact, Moran was just hoping his team would, at the very least, put up a fight against their overpowering opponent.
Unfortunately, the Titans fell short of even that expectation, at least in the first half. Antonito brings a high-paced game to the floor with height in the middle as well, and they used that to score 30 points before the Titans got their first bucket of the game.
“The girls were scared and intimidated and we just got hammered,” says Moran. “Antonito pushed it up and down the floor like we weren’t there. They’re a really, really good team.”
Halftime provided a break from the onslaught for the Titans and they recovered to find their balance as a team and put together a much stronger effort in the second half. Led by a trio of three-pointers from Sydney Petersen and additional points from Siena Truex, the Titans played a far better game through the second half before eventually falling 75-28.
“We found a little something in the second half,” says Moran. “There are just some great teams in Colorado that play way more than we do.”
The Titans have a busy week ahead of them heading into the Christmas break. They played Gunnison on Wednesday, December 14, hit the road on Friday, December 16 to face Telluride and will host their first home game of the season on Saturday, December 16 when they tip-off against Ridgway at 2:30 p.m.
“We’ll lick our wounds, and I hope to get through this week with a couple of wins,” says Moran. “I’m convinced we’ll bounce back. The girls will play well and we can definitely compete with these next three teams.”
