Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs saved perhaps its finest performance of the season for Saturday, as the Sailors shaved the Palisade Bulldogs with a red-hot offense in the district playoffs.

Steamboat, which came away with a 55-33 victory, outscored its opponent with a well-balanced offensive attack that involved three players finishing in double figures.

The win gave the Sailors a No. 5 finish in the district tourney. But, more importantly, it advanced them to the regional tourney that takes place Feb. 27-28 and March 2-3 with a place and time yet to be determined.

Thirty-two teams will compete in the 4A regional tourney, 16 of which will have home-court advantage.

The Sailors' victory on Saturday was the second one this season over the Bulldogs. Katie Carter finished the game with 12 points and Natalie Muth and Emily Hines added 10 apiece for the Sailors.

Jannike Combs chipped in nine points for Steamboat, which improved to 13-9 on the season.

The Sailors grabbed a 13-4 first-quarter lead when Anya Allen dished an assist to Ashley Rogers with about 20 seconds remaining.

In the second quarter, Combs drained a 3-pointer with about five minutes to go to extend the lead to 20-6.

Bulldogs' player Lyndsi Brumback made a pair of free throws to close the margin to 24-13 near the end of the half.

Jennifer Weber nailed the first big bucket of the second half when she connected on a 3-pointer to give Steamboat a 29-15 lead. Hines made a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to increase the margin to 43-25.

Carter's turnaround shot with a little more than 35 seconds to go gave the Sailors their final two points of the contest.

Brienna Combs finished with a team-high six rebounds.

It was the best shooting exhibition by the Sailors this season, coach Bruce Alston said.

"It was the best team game we played all year," Alston said. "We didn't have any superstars but everybody that played played very well. I'm just extremely proud of the way they played."