The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We are so close to competing with the best of the best in our league”
[ by Than Acuff ]
The Crested Butte Titans girls’ basketball team rolled past Ridgway last week, but their momentum stalled in league play over the weekend as they fell to Del Norte and Monte Vista. They host their final home game of the regular season when they host Custer County on Friday, February 17, tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.
The Titans started out slow against the Ridgway Demons on Tuesday, February 7 notched in a 10-10 tie late in the first quarter. But when Lexi Pickering knocked down a three-pointer and another deep jumper and Blakeley Reynolds followed with a basket to end the first, the Titans never looked back.
Ellie Duryea jumped into the scoring mix to open the second quarter scoring the Titans next six points and Molly Miller pulled off a Harlem Globetrottersesque lay-up to cap an early 8-0 run and the Titans were up 25-15 by halftime.
Duryea and Miller continued scoring throughout the third quarter with Blakeley dropping in a couple of three-pointers as the Titans outscored the Demons 19-2 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
Coach Amanda Reynolds then looked to her bench to get them additional varsity minutes and Grace Bogard seized the opportunity scoring four points as Crested Butte cruised to a 48-19 win. Blakeley led the Titans with 13 points, Pickering scored 10 and Duryea and Miller finished the game with eight and seven points respectively.
“That game felt good,” says coach Reynolds. “I put different groups of five players in and they still ran our offense.”
The Titans then returned to the road for a league matchup with the Del Norte Tigers on Friday, February 10. The Tigers sit at the top of the Southern Peaks league standings with an undefeated record and would pose a massive challenge for the Titans.
Call it nerves, call it a lack of confidence, but the Titans struggled through the first half of the game to fall behind 20-10 by halftime. But once Amanda had their attention for the break, she reminded them of who they are.
“I really challenged them at halftime and they answered,” says Amanda. “They came out and played better defense and started to run the offense.”
Crested Butte started to creep back into the game and were down just four points late in the fourth quarter before Del Norte managed to escape with a 38-31 win. Blakeley led with seven points while Leigh Harpel scored six.
“We had the momentum, we just couldn’t claw back,” says Amanda. “It’s hard to play in their gym but we didn’t execute the things we needed to execute.”
The struggle for Crested Butte continued as they had to host the Monte Vista Pirates the very next day. Monte Vista is yet another tough league opponent and the Titans needed to dig deep to compete.
The challenge proved too much for the Titans as Monte Vista jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the first quarter while Crested Butte struggled to hit shots when presented.
“There were shots that go down for us that didn’t go down for us and the teams we’re playing don’t miss those shots,” says Amanda.
Crested Butte made a brief run at Monte Vista to open the second quarter, but Monte Vista had an answer to finish the first half with a 13-3 run for a 28-10 lead by halftime.
Monte Vista continued to press throughout the second half and while it wasn’t designed for steals and lay ups, the effect had the Titans off balance on offense and struggling to grab rebounds when needed. Monte Vista held their comfortable lead through the rest of the game to take down the Titans 44-28. Blakeley led with 10 points, Harpel scored six and Annie Collins pulled down six rebounds.
“We got outrebounded by Monte Vista and we can’t get outrebounded,” says Amanda. “If we get outrebounded, we can’t win, period.”
Amanda does believe, her team is getting closer and closer each week to reaching their potential and a big part of it is belief.
“We are so close to competing with the best of the best in our league,” says Amanda. “It takes time to expect to be in those games with teams that have always beaten us. Our practices have been so good and maybe they’ll take what we’re doing and we’ll see it come together in districts and regionals.”
The Titans finish the regular season with a home game against Custer County on Friday, February 17 at 5:30 p.m. and then head to South Park on Saturday. As of right now, it looks like they will enter the district tournament the number three seed starting on Thursday, February 23.
