The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Enter league tournament this week
By Than Acuff
It was a tough finish to the regular season for the Crested Butte Titans girls’ basketball team as they took to the court on Friday, February 20 to host the Sargent Farmers. The Farmers came into the game seeded top five in the state in 2A and sitting in second place of the Southern Peaks league standings. Not only that, but the Titans would be missing starting guard Rio Crabtree.
Given the herculean task ahead of them, the Titans buckled down aware of the situation and planned accordingly.
“We knew they were going to press us and without Rio, we were going to be shorthanded in that aspect,” says coach Anna Bressinck. “But, they’re mostly a two-player team and we had some size, so we wanted to face guard their top two players with the other three sunk low to protect the paint and try to get the ball low on offense to take advantage of our size.”
And, for the first quarter, the plan appeared to work as the Titans got three defensive stops to start the game and were down just 9-4 by the end of the quarter.
“We came out and kept it tight,” says Bressinck. “I was very pleased with the first quarter.”
But the Farmers adjusted on both sides of the ball to outscore the Titans 18-0 in the second quarter and keep the throttle down the remaining three quarters to take down the Titans 52-12. Molly Miller led the Titans with six points.
“They’re a smart team and they figured out what to do,” says Bressinck.
Crested Butte now heads into the league post season tournament the seventh seed of 12 teams and are in the higher bracket with the top eight teams—a step up from last year as they headed into the league tournament with the bottom four teams.
As a result, they turn around and play Sargent again in the opening game of the three-game tournament. The good news is that they will be back to full strength for the rematch and look to improve in the same areas they need to execute against Sargent.
“Rarely in your life do you get a chance to immediately get redemption,” says Bressinck.
They have a second game on Thursday, February 26 and then their final league tournament game is in Monte Vista on Saturday, February 28.
The upside of their tough tournament run is that every opponent is strong and that even one win out of the three games could bode well for a chance to make it to the regional tournament as the top 32 teams from the state in 2A advance. The Titans are currently ranked 34th.
“There’s a possibility we can squeak into the 32nd spot,” says Bressinck. “Last year, the last week of the season was cake. But we have made some strides this year and for their reward, they get to run the gauntlet. But, in the future we’re going to be better for it.”
