Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — It was like an ugly football score.

The Steamboat Springs girls basketball team held visiting Delta scoreless in the first quarter and gave up just four points in the entire second half, en route to a 60-11 win over the Panthers on Friday to move to 9-0 on the season and 2-0 in the league.

Delta didn't break into double digits until the clock showed 2:45 left in the game.

"You don't know how to play," junior Bailey Draper said. "You don't want to rub it in their face or stop playing."

The Panthers had a difficult time even bringing the ball up the court, serving as yet another in a growing list of opponents unable to handle the Sailors' intense full-court and half-court pressure defense.

Delta didn't attempt a shot until 3:24 to go in the first quarter. The Panthers didn't actually score until the opening minute of the second.

Meanwhile, eighth-ranked Steamboat had a hard time missing the basket.

Within the first three minutes, Steamboat was up 11-0 and four different players had scored. By the end of the first quarter, the score was 27-0 in favor of the Sailors.

The second quarter was more of the same, as coach Steve Moos ordered his team to remain focused on its game plan, but even he admitted his team's execution was rather impressive.

"I told them they were giving me quite a challenge," he said. "I was almost speechless."

Steamboat's starting five and top reserves used the opening possessions of the third quarter to work on several things it had been practicing but hadn't yet refined before giving way to the JV players that also dress varsity at the end of the third.

Those girls didn't let up either, outscoring Delta 9-2 in the game's final eight minutes.

Juniors Hannah Gary and Lindsay Stanford each had four points for the Sailors in the fourth. Junior Erin Christensen added a free throw.

For the game, Draper and senior Jen Weber had a game-high 10 points, as 10 of 12 players on Steamboat's roster scored. The only two who didn't, sophomore reserve Ashley Zeeb and junior reserve Melissa White, each had three rebounds and a combined three steals in one, or just more than one, quarter of play, respectively.

"These are fun games, but at the same time we sat for nearly the entire second half," senior Anya Allen said.

Allen had a game-high seven assists, and while she wasn't alone among the starters in wanting more minutes, she understands what happens when a team is beating another by almost 50 points.

Moos was pleased he got to rest his starters for extended minutes Friday because the Sailors turn around and host Palisade at 4:30 p.m. today at the high school as they look to remain undefeated on the season.