The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Fall shy of three-game winning streak
by Than Acuff
There’s a new energy on the Crested Butte Titans girls high school basketball team. They scrap, they battle, they fight and they believe they are turning a corner. Some of that may have to do with the fact that, due to low numbers and a young team, they’ve adopted a JV schedule. But there’s more to it.
It all started with a win in Grand Junction two weeks ago against Caprock Academy and carried over to earlier last week when the Titans beat Gunnison 33-22 on Tuesday, December 17.
“I think we came out really strong and that’s something we’ve been working on,” says junior Sophia Truex. “We’ve got a variety of shooters and a huge increase in energy.”
The back-to-back wins had the Titans feeling confident as they returned to the floor Friday, December 20 in mighty Mt. Olympus to host the Lake County Panthers.
“We were excited because we’d won a few games and were coming in with the mindset that we can really do it,” says Truex.
That excitement carried the Titans through the first quarter against Lake County. While the Panthers had a noticeable advantage rebounding, pure hustle and key baskets from Naomi Bilow and Truex held the Panthers in check. About the only thing holding the Titans back were themselves as missed free throws, rushed play on offense and turnovers stalled the Titans’ scoring.
“We were having trouble running plays and were a little chaotic,” says Truex.
Truex opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to pull the Titans to within one and they held close through the next four minutes until foul trouble started to take hold leaving the Titans handcuffed.
Lake County soon built a 19-12 lead midway through the second quarter before Ellie Duryea caught fire to knock down six points in a span of two minutes pulling the Titans back to within three points by halftime.
A more composed Crested Butte team returned to the floor in the second half. Led by the pure hustle of India Nornes, an eight-foot jumper from Alex Downey and five quick points from Blakely Reynolds, the Titans were on top 25-23 forcing Lake County to call a timeout.
“We toned it down at the start of the second half and were able to take the lead,” says Truex.
The Panthers recovered though to rattle off a 6-0 scoring run before Duryea closed the quarter with a 10-foot jumper to remain within two points of the Panthers heading into the fourth quarter.
Truex ran the length of the floor for a lay up and Reynolds drained two free throws and another three-pointer but as the game wore on, foul trouble continued to hamper the Titans and Lake County managed to pull away in the final four minutes for the 42-34 win. Both Truex and Reynolds finished with 11 points each followed by Duryea with eight.
“I think when we got in a lot of foul trouble that restricted us in how we like to play,” says Truex. “We’re still really proud with how we played. We’re not happy with the outcome but happy with our intensity.”
The girls will have a break over the holidays before returning to action in January.
