The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We executed our defense the way we practiced it”
by Than Acuff
Coaches never know what kind of team they have until they actually get into a game situation. This past weekend, the Crested Butte Titans girls’ basketball head coach Vaden Holmes got her first real glimpse of the team as they headed to South Park for their annual season-opening tournament.
Holmes took over the role as head coach this year and has just 12 players out for the team. She was denied her first chance to see them in action when a pre-season scrimmage was cancelled, so she was left with just practicing game situations and getting her team reps on the court as best as possible to prepare for the tournament.
Fortunately, after a couple of weeks of pre-season, she did see things start to shift the week leading up to the games on Saturday, December 2.
“During the week we worked really hard on Monday and Tuesday and I definitely saw a step in the right direction,” says Holmes.
Still, questions lingered as they tipped off against the South Park Burros Saturday morning and while they fell by a score of 48-13, Holmes liked some of the things she saw.
“We played pretty well. I was quite surprised,” says Holmes.
Holmes believes it was their defense that ultimately kept the Burros from truly racking up the score.
“South Park was a very disciplined team,” says Holmes.
Holmes feels that South Park could have easily scored as many as 60 points had it not been for the work of her team.
“We executed our defense the way we practiced it,” says Holmes. “I was just surprised because we’re a really young team.”
The Titans then had to sit all day and wait until their second game that evening when they faced Cripple Creek. Holmes believes the long break may have spelled the demise of the Titans in their second game.
“We came out super flat-footed and didn’t play nearly as well for sure,” says Holmes.
Foul trouble exacerbated the issue as both captains and another starter each picked up three fouls early in the game, forcing Holmes to sit them down to prevent them from fouling out. The Titans hung in there though, eventually falling 43-13.
“I definitely got some good takeaways on where we are and where we need to go,” says Holmes.
The Titans will stay home this weekend as they host Antonito on Saturday, with the varsity game tipping off at 2:30 p.m.
“What I really want to accomplish this week is discipline on defense and honing in our shooting and get our shooting percentage up this weekend,” says Holmes.
