The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“What got us in the end was turnovers”
By Than Acuff
After a back-and-forth battle between the Crested Butte Titans girls’ basketball team and the Caprock Academy Eagles, a late run by the Eagles sealed the fate of the Titans who fell 32-26.
The Titans were poised for a win with an evenly matched opponent, but Caprock opened the game scoring the first seven points including a three-pointer. Unfettered by the initial deficit, the Titans bounced back as Grace Bogard and Lola Wright scrambled for an offensive rebound and Wright kicked it out to Calla Fenlon for a three-pointer. Moments later Fenlon fed the ball inside to Molly Miller for a basket and when Fenlon hit another three-pointer, the Titans had cut the Caprock lead down to one.
On the Titans’ next trip up the floor, a series of passes got the ball into Wright at the post who then kicked it out to Rio Crabtree for a jumper from the elbow and a 10-9 Titans’ lead.
Caprock recovered to rattle off four points and retake the lead, but the Titans had the last say of the quarter when Miller battled through three Caprock players to score inside pulling the Titans back to within one at the close of the quarter.
“We had to get our bearings, but we’ve been working on our offense, using all the tools, and it started clicking,” says head coach Anna Bressnick.
Crested Butte opened the second quarter on fire as their defense shut down Caprock and Fenlon drained another three-pointer. Miller followed with a baseline drive to score and when Crabtree tied up a Caprock player forcing an Eagle timeout, the Titans were up 17-13.
Yet they still couldn’t quite pull away as Caprock scored the next seven points in a row to go back on top. A Miller block and another stop by the Titans defense would stall the Eagles next two trips up the court and Crabtree came through again as she gathered a loose ball and drove coast-to-coast for a layup at the buzzer to bring the Titans within one of the Eagles.
Both teams struggled to score in the third quarter combining for six points total between the two of them, but the Titans did retake the lead as Miller knocked down a couple of free throws and Fenlon hit Miller cutting to the basket for a layup.
They carried their momentum as Fenlon knocked down a baseline jumper for a 25-22 Titans’ lead to open the fourth quarter. Bogard continued her lock down defensive ways including two blocks and Wright’s hustle on rebounds and steals helped the Titans hold their slim lead, but Caprock managed to tie the game 25-25 with just over three minutes left. The Eagles then put together a late game 6-0 run to build a 31-25 lead and held on for the 32-26 win.
“What got us in the end was turnovers,” says Bressnick. “We’d force a turnover and then just give the ball right back to them. We just need to calm down and make good decisions. The ideas are right, we just get a little ahead of ourselves.”
Fenlon led the Titans with 11 points, Miller scored 10 and Crabtree added in five.
“Calla found her shot this week and that was the best game Rio has played all season,” says Bressnick. “I see things starting to improve every single game and I’m seeing more confidence in every single one of them and that’s a promising sign for us going into the back half of the season.”
The Titans have a rough road game this week as they head to Center on Friday, January 24 to face the Vikings who are currently 10-2 and ranked ninth in the state. They return home to host Trinidad on Saturday, tipoff is at 11:30 a.m. They will play both games without one of their starters.
“Center is going to be a tall task,” says Bressnick. “Trinidad should be a more evenly matched game. We’re working hard all week and will just go out there and play our game as best we can.”
