Lady Titans open season with rash of quick wins

Down Center in home opener

Questions surrounded the Lady Titans basketball team as they headed into the opening week of the season.
Could they make the adjustments necessary for success with a new coaching staff bringing a new style of play?
As head coach Brandin Hamilton puts it, “we’re a work in progress.”
So far, the work in progress has been enough to rattle off three wins in the first four games of the season.
They opened with a three-day tournament in Ft. Collins December 2-4 and jumped immediately into the fray facing Akron in the tournament opener.
Akron was the runner up to the 2A state title last year and lost only one player to graduation.
Suffice to say, the Lady Titans had their hands full and while the game got away from them early to lose 62-20, they managed to play even with Akron in the second half.
“We were overwhelmed with their speed and aggressiveness in the first half,” says Hamilton.
With that Goliath of a game out of the way, the Lady Titans met the exact opposite of the talent spectrum on Friday as a scheduling SNAFU had them tip off against a 4A JV squad form Denver North.
The Lady Titans held Denver North to four points total cruising to a 49-4 win, and while it can be difficult to take anything away from such a blow out both on the losing end and winning end, Hamilton saw execution in both efforts.
“In both games, no matter what the score was, they stayed with what we wanted to do,” explains Hamilton.
Crested Butte closed the tournament on Saturday against Rimrock High School out of Montana. Rimrock was a complete mystery to Crested Butte and after a shaky first eight minutes, Crested Butte was behind.
“They (Rimrock) ran an aggressive 2-3 that they trapped out of,” says Hamilton.
But, the Lady Titans adjusted accordingly and took control of the game over the course of the next three quarters.
The key to their recovery was patience as the Lady Titans worked the ball on offense, waiting for shots to open up.
“We worked on being patient on offense and we just basically wore them out,” says Hamilton.
Overall, Hamilton saw the team take its first steps toward its new look during the tournament.
“I think we made some improvements and are starting to develop our offensive identity and are stronger on defense,” says Hamilton. “I got 10 girls who can play, but we’re not going to know anything until we play teams in our league.”
That initial test of the 2A Southern Peaks league waters came on Tuesday, December 7 when they hosted the Center Vikings in mighty Mt. Olympus.
While Center is in Crested Butte’s league, their first match up of the season would fall under non-league sanctioning, offering a glimpse of their future this year without the risk of losing a league game.
The Lady Vikings came out with a stifling zone defense that sealed the key up tight. The Lady Titans responded with an equally tight defensive effort and the two teams combined for a total of six points in the first quarter.
Senior Shannon Holleran did the damage for the Lady Titans, hitting two eight-foot jumpers to give them an initial 4-2 lead.
Crested Butte broke the scoring stalemate with a 10-2 run in the second quarter led by back-to-back 14-foot jumpers from junior ‘Downtown’ Toni Brown.
Junior Sydney Jernigan pulled down an offensive board and scored to hold the Lady Titans nine-point lead with just over a minute left in the half, but Center charged through the final minute to cut the Crested Butte lead down to three points by halftime.
The game opened up in the third quarter as both teams charged up and down the court trading off buckets.
Holleran pulled down a big offensive rebound, scored, was fouled and sank the free throw to rebuild the Lady Titans six-point lead, but Center cut it back down to three in the final seconds of the quarter.
The two teams retreated into defensive stands once again, as the teams played three minutes of scoreless basketball to start the fourth quarter. Jernigan then jumpstarted one last Lady Titans surge, spinning underneath to the hoop for two points. Sophomore Madie Stichter followed with a steal and a lay up, and Brown found Holleran open for another two of Holleran’s team-leading 13 points on the night, to give Crested Butte a 33-24 lead before the Vikings coach could call a timeout.
Center put together one last rally, but a 16-foot jumper from Jernigan quashed Center’s hopes of a comeback to seal the 35-28 win.
“Our guards made a nice adjustment on defense to take away Center’s on ball screen,” says Hamilton. “We relied on a pretty good defensive effort and timely shooting.”
The Lady Titans return to the road heading to Middle Park for a tournament December 17-18 before taking a break over Christmas. Their next home game is not until Saturday, January 8 when they host Lake County.