The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“That was the best half we’ve put together all season long”
By Than Acuff
After falling to the Center Vikings on the road 56-21 on Friday, January 24, the Crested Butte Titans girls’ basketball team looked to rebound at home on Saturday only to lose to the Trinidad Miners 48-34.
The Vikings would be a tall order for the Titans as they are ranked seventh in the state in 2A basketball, one of three league teams ranked in the top 10. Add in that the Titans would be missing one of their starters for the game, and the match up got even tougher for the Titans.
Nevertheless, the Titans went toe-to-toe with the Vikings throughout the first quarter. Rio Crabtree and Molly Miller combined for the Titans first four points and Miller scored the next six for the Titans with two coming from Lola Wright’s effort on the offensive boards to set Miller up for two more and a 10-9 Titans’ lead at the end of the first quarter.
Grace Bogard then opened the second quarter draining a three-pointer and continued her effort to hold Center’s top scorer to just two points in the first half and the two teams traded baskets throughout the second quarter to finish the first half notched in a 15-15 tie.
“That was the best half we’ve put together all season long,” says head coach Anna Bressnick. “Our defense was just locked in against a very tough, very physical team.”
Center would then take over the game in the third quarter as they outscored the Titans 23-2 and continued to push to take down the Titans 56-21. Miller would finish with 12 points for the Titans while Crabtree added in four.
“It was a little bit of us running out of gas, we had a pretty short bench for the game,” says Bressnick. “The main change that happened was that they came out and put the hammer down on us in the second half. We are getting better at handling ball pressure, but it was an overwhelming force.”
Crested Butte returned home to host the Trinidad Miners on Saturday and the Miners opened the game bombing three-pointers whenever possible. While many of their shots missed the mark, their effort on the offensive boards and Titan turnovers allowed the Miners to build a 14-7 lead in the first quarter with Ella Davis and Miller providing the points and Miller and Bogard combining for a couple of blocks.
Jacey Deroche joined the defensive effort to record a block at the start of the second quarter, but the Miners continued to find success off turnovers and rebounds to build a 21-7 lead three minutes into the second quarter.
The Titans then came roaring back with an eight-foot jumper by Davis off the glass. Miller ran the length of the floor for two more and then dumped the ball underneath to Wright for a basket. Crabtree grabbed an offensive board and scored, and Miller capped the 10-3 Titans’ run with a couple free throws to pull within seven points by halftime.
“We made some adjustments to our offense in the second quarter that started to work,” says Bressnick.
Crested Butte suffered another tough third quarter though as Trinidad rebuilt their double-digit lead. The Titans finished the game strong with Miller continuing to score when possible, Davis knocking down a few and Hadley Brewer coming off the bench to help on defense and drop in two points, but the Miners’ lead proved insurmountable as Crested Butte fell 48-34. Miller finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven steals while Davis scored eight and Wright pulled down eight rebounds as well.
“We still tend to lean too much on Molly,” says Bressnick. “We just weren’t able to get a streak going in that second half to pull back into the game and we let that game get away from us.”
The Titans have two games this week as they face Gunnison and then hit the road to take on Del Norte on Saturday, February 1.
“We’ve got a good plan and we’re just going to go at them,” says Bressnick.
