Steamboat Pilot & Today

Glenwood Springs — The loose ball looked as if it should've just went out of bounds as the deflected pass went the length of the court. But the Demons' Dakota Stonehouse covered some ground, bouncing the ball off a Sailors defender with less than a minute to go in the game. Keeping the ball in Glenwood's hands, they could burn some time off the clock.

That hustle play exemplified how Glenwood beat Steamboat Springs, 61-51, on Saturday.

"They were clicking in the heart department, and that kind of fits with Valentine's Day," Demons coach Greg Hire said after the win that stopped Steamboat's 41-game winning streak in the 4A Western Slope League. "Last night and tonight, I've been preaching toughness. It's not necessarily the strongest guy, but the person who has the most mental ability to do the tough things."

The win put the Demons in a tie with the Sailors atop the league standings.

The Demons are now 15-6 overall and 11-1 in league, while the Sailors are 14-6 and also 11-1.

"It was a huge win," Stonehouse said after the game. "I think our intensity got it for us, and that's what coach talked about - our toughness. We need to keep bringing the intensity. If we play every game like this, we'll go into the playoffs with good mojo."

Glenwood had the lead throughout much of the game, carrying a 19-12 lead into the second quarter. All of the Sailors' points came from behind the arc, and during the course of the game, they were living off the three.

"We're a very good shooting team, and we've relied on that all season as kind of a base," Sailors coach Luke DeWolfe said. "It shined a bit more tonight because we couldn't establish an inside presence."

Steamboat went 14-of-22 from 3-point land. Their only buckets in the first and last quarter all were 3-pointers. Jack Spady had the hot hand for the Sailors, nailing seven 3-pointers. His streak of three in a row in the third cut the Demons' lead to 40-37 with 3 minutes, 28 seconds left to play in the third.

The visiting fans upped the volume level in the gym after that barrage.

The Sailors knotted the score at 48 on a Spady three with just more than three minutes left in the game. Thirty seconds later, they had the lead, 51-50, after another three from Alex Wood, but those were the last points that Steamboat would score. They were 0-for-5 the last 2:47 of regulation.

Glenwood was able to hold onto the lead down the stretch following free throws from Kevin Screen, Jordan Ciani and Kevin Flohr.

Screen had 18 points on the night for Glenwood, Flohr added 11 more, and Stonehouse finished with 9 points.

Spady had 23 points to lead all scorers, and Nelson Brassell had 13.

Demons girls notch win

In the early game, the Glenwood girls handed the Sailors a 76-40 defeat behind their quick hands on defense.

The Demons had a 40-23 lead at the half, thanks to some swift passing from Katrina Selsor. She found Lexie Warkentin open under the hoop on three occasions, twice after the Demons forced a turnover. One was a backdoor cut by Warkentin, and the next she completed an and one. Cassidy Gaddis also was a recipient of a crisp Selsor pass on a fast break opportunity.

"We came out an played our game," Demons coach Bryan Derby said. "Their tempo never let down. We kept getting up and down the court, and that's what you have to do as a team."

Selsor led the way for Glenwood with 20 points. Kenzie Kuhn chipped in 13, and Laura Young had 12.

Glenwood is alone at the top of 4A WSL with a 12-1 league record and is 17-3 overall. The loss put the Sailors at 6-14 overall and 3-9 in league.

"There was no quit from my girls," Sailors coach John Ameen said. "We cut the lead down after the half to 46-34, but we just kind of broke down mentally and didn't do some little things that turned into big things."

The Sailors were a little careless with the ball in the first half, committing 14 turnovers and creating only three. They played more cautiously in the second half, turning the ball over only eight times and making the Demons cough it up 10 times.

Glenwood played a pretty solid game all around, but they do need to see the court better, Derby said.

"We have to know where everyone is around us," he added. "We need to keep our head up for dribbling."