Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat's leading scorer, senior Brienna Combs, will be watching from the sidelines this weekend as her teammates play in a pair of league games against the Delta Panthers and Palisade Bulldogs.

Combs has a tear in the labrum of her left shoulder. She sustained the injury against Moffat County but played through the pain during a win at Glenwood Springs last Saturday.

The Sailors' scoring leader will be out indefinitely but will soon undergo surgery. After the surgery is performed, she expects to be back in two weeks.

"It's awful," said Combs, who also is the Sailors' leading rebounder.

"I love the sport and so it stinks when you're not allowed to play."

The Sailors, who are 7-4 and 3-2, are finishing up a six-game road sweep that dates back to Jan. 6, when they played Battle Mountain in Avon.

Today, Steamboat plays at Delta at 6 p.m. and then heads to Palisade for a 6 p.m. date with the Bulldogs.

Combs is confident her team can produce a pair of victories.

"I actually have no doubts they can win this week," she said. "This week in practice they've all been working really hard.

"I think the main thing is for us not to overlook (our opponents)."

The Panthers, who are 0-5 in the league and 1-10 overall, will probably breathe a sigh of relief with Combs on the bench.

But they will still have to deal with a Sailors team that has continued to improve throughout the year.

Natalie Muth is coming off a 20-point performance at Glenwood, and Jannike Combs and Ashley Rogers have been terrorizing the boards.

Sailors coach Bruce Alston has not seen the Panthers play this season, he said, but the key in both games will have to be cutting back on turnovers. Steamboat committed 35 turnovers against Glenwood.

The Sailors' game against the Bulldogs will be a rematch of a Jan. 5 contest at home. The Sailors led 23-5 at halftime during that game but scored only seven points in the third quarter before hanging on for a 49-35 win.

"We'll have our hands full, I'm sure," Alston said. "(The Bulldogs) were disappointed when they came here. Their effort was great, but I'm sure it's not what they wanted.

"We've got to play a better game this time."