Titans girls’ basketball close season with a couple wins

“We really do have something to build on”

By Than Acuff 

While it was a tough season for the young Crested Butte Titans girls’ basketball team, it ended on a high note as the Titans won two of their last three games of the season and have much to look forward to moving ahead.

The Titans finished the regular season with just four wins and headed into the District Tournament on the lower half of the bracket with three winnable games ahead of them to close out the season.

“I told the girls we’re in the post season, the goal is to go 3-0,” says head coach Anna Bressnick.

They started their final week of play with a bang on Tuesday, February 25 rolling to a 52-12 home win over the Antonito Trojans.

Knowing full well what their opponent would be like, Bressnick made a point of setting the tone from the start and making sure her team knew what was expected of them.

“I wanted to go full court, man-to-man from the opening tip,” says Bressnick. “I wanted them to play like they were playing Sanford.”

The effort paid off in spades as they jumped out to 16-3 lead in the first quarter with four different players scoring led by six points from Lola Wright and the stifling defensive play of Rio Crabtree up top.

Crested Butte continued to pour it on in the second quarter as Molly Miller found her scoring rhythm while the Titans defense held Antonito to three points in the second quarter. Calla Fenlon continued to drop in points in the third quarter and others joined in on offense to score as the Titans rolled to the big win. The icing came in the waning moments as the Titans set up senior captain Grace Bogard to drain a three-pointer for a memorable final basket of her career at home. Seven Titans got on the scoresheet led by Fenlon with 16 points, Wright with 11 and Miller with 10 points.

“We needed that really bad,” says Bressnick. “We got to go out there and show our stuff off. I was most pleased that nearly everybody contributed on the scoreboard.”

While Antonito was not the toughest of opponents, it was good for the Titans to see their efforts all season come to fruition and helped build confidence for a true test, the Custer County Bobcats on Thursday, February 27. The Bobcats escaped from the Titans with a one-point win earlier in the season and Crested Butte was determined to show who is the better team in their second meeting. It also helped that the Titans would have their full starting roster for the second meeting.

But the Bobcats are fierce and certainly weren’t going to give in no matter how determined the Titans were. At least not right away, as the two teams were neck-and-neck through the first quarter until a quick 6-0 run by the Titans had them out front 8-5.

Both teams turned up the defense in the second quarter as they combined for seven points total with Fenlon scoring all four Titan points. But the game still hung in the balance and the Titans have a habit of coming out slow in the second half.

This time they shook off the third quarter blues to keep pushing. Points from Miller and Fenlon helped maintain the Titans’ lead and when Wright and Miller connected for a passing combination through the lane at the end of the quarter, the Titans were out front 23-16.

“The third quarter is usually our worst quarter,” says Bressnick. “It was great to see them come out in the second half still pushing and still fighting.”

Crested Butte closed out the game in top form as their defense continued to frustrate the Bobcats while the Titans continued to score points outscoring Custer County 14-9 down the stretch to seal the 37-25 win led by Fenlon with another 16-point effort and 10 points from Miller.

“That was Calla’s best game of the season, she was locked in on offense and defense,” says Bressnick. “Our team defensive effort was the best we’d seen all season long.”

The streak stopped at two though as Crested Butte remained on the road for the final game of the season and fell to the Sangre de Cristo Thunderbirds 31-23.

The Thunderbirds brought a serious size advantage to the floor and the Titans held tough to keep them close. Crested Butte pulled to within one on a three-pointer by Fenlon, but Miller picked up her third foul and had to sit and Sangre closed the first half with five straight points to take a 15-9 lead into halftime.

Miller returned to the floor to score nine points in the third quarter as the Titans tied the game 18-18 but the Thunderbirds kept using their size advantage to battle in the paint for points to stay in step with Crested Butte.

“We couldn’t match up with their size, says Bressnick. “They kept lobbing it in and our help side defense wasn’t there and that was killing us.”

On top of that, the Titans were getting good looks, but their shots weren’t falling. Crested Butte hung tough to tie the game 23-23 with three minutes left but when Sangre pulled back out front, the Titans were forced to foul to stop the clock and the Thunderbirds hit six free throws down the stretch to win 31-23.

“Our defense was just not up to par and we missed too many lay ups and shots in close,” says Bressnick. “It was a long season.”

Miller finished the season leading the team in points and steals and was named second team all-conference. While the wins were sparse, Bressnick is still happy with the season having so many new players join the team, the progression they made as individuals and a team, their ability to stick with it all season and the massive potential for the future as they are losing just one starter to graduation.

“They showed up, put their heads down and got to work and I’m proud of them for that,” says Bressnick. “We really do have something to build on.”