Steamboat Today: Bulldogs girls basketball tops Sailors, 55-48

Archive for Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Steamboat Springs High School girls basketball player Colleen King is double-teamed by Moffat County during the second half Tuesday night.

By Luke Graham Wednesday, January 28, 2009

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Steamboat Springs girls basketball, 2008-09

Dec. 5, Steamboat 57, Roaring Fork 40 at Roaring Fork Tournament; (1-0)
Dec. 6, Steamboat 63, Basalt 38 at Roaring Fork Tournament; (2-0)
Dec. 11, Steamboat 45, Summit 25 at Steamboat ShootOut tournament; (3-0)
Dec. 12,D'Evelyn 74, Steamboat 37 at Steamboat ShootOut tournament; (3-1)
Dec. 13, Green River, Wyo., 63, Steamboat 33 at Steamboat ShootOut tournament; (3-2)
Dec. 18, Star Valley, Wyo. 49, Steamboat 45 at Flaming Gorge Classic basketball tournament; (3-3)
Dec. 19, Green River, Wyo. 72, Steamboat 52 at Flaming Gorge Classic basketball tournament; (3-4)
Dec. 20, Rock Springs, Wyo. 69, Steamboat 29 at Flaming Gorge Classic basketball tournament; (3-5)
Jan. 9, Steamboat 47, Battle Mountain 27; (4-5, 1-0))
Jan. 10, Eagle Valley 41, Steamboat 39; (4-6, 1-1)
Jan. 16, Palisade 41, Steamboat 37; (4-7, 1-2)
Jan. 17, Steamboat 51, Delta 42; (5-7, 2-2)
Jan. 23, Rifle 57, Steamboat 53;(5-8, 2-3)
Jan. 24, Glenwood 57, Steamboat 48;(5-9, 2-4)
Jan. 27, Moffat County 55, Steamboat 48;(5-10, 2-5)
Feb. 6, Palisade 55, Steamboat 48;(5-11, 2-6)
Feb. 7, Delta 70, Steamboat 61;(5-12, 2-7)
Feb. 10, Steamboat 63, Eagle Valley 39;(6-12, 3-7)
Feb. 13, Rifle 53, Steamboat 45;(6-13, 3-8)
Feb. 14, Glenwood Springs 76, Steamboat 40;(6-14, 3-9)
Feb. 17 vs. Moffat County, 6 p.m.
Feb. 20 at Battle Mountain, 6 p.m.
Feb. 24 state playoffs begin

Moffat County girls basketball coach Craig Mortensen has seen enough games and enough bad halves to know it's never a good idea to panic.

So even when his team trailed Steamboat Springs by double digits at halftime, the veteran coach - and maybe more importantly, his team - remained calm.

The end result was a 55-48 Moffat County win, helping the Bulldogs keep pace at the top of the Western Slope League.

"I told them I can't draw on the board what's wrong with our first-half play," Mortensen said about his halftime speech. "It comes from within."

Whatever it was, Moffat County certainly found it.

Trailing 27-16 at half, the Bulldogs came out firing.

Moffat County outscored the Sailors 20-9 in the third quarter and made 8 of 10 field goals. Courtney Edington scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the quarter, as the Bulldogs tied the contest up at 36 heading into the final frame.

"We give up more points in each quarter of the second half than we did in that entire first half," Steamboat coach John Ameen said. "It was a mirror of each half on the defensive end. It was the good and the bad."

Moffat County took control of the fourth quarter, going up 42-38 with 6:35 remaining. Steamboat continued to claw back, closing to within two at 42-40 and 49-47 before Moffat County hit 6 of 8 free throws in the last two minutes to put the game away.

Initially, however, it looked like Steamboat might upset its cross-valley rival.

Playing their best half of basketball all year, Steamboat ran out to a 16-9 first-quarter lead, thanks to the play of its defense.

The Sailors limited the Bulldogs to 6-of-21 shooting in the first half and forced 11 Moffat County turnovers.

Steamboat led 27-12 late in the second quarter before Moffat County finished the half on a 4-0 run to close to 27-16.

"We felt pretty fortunate to get out of here with a win," Mortensen said. "Steamboat was prepared. John is doing an excellent job with those kids and they are getting better every year."

In addition to Edington, Kylie Bauman scored 13 points for Moffat County. Gracie Stockdale paced the Sailors with 10 points.

The win puts the Bulldogs at 9-7 overall and 6-1 in league play. The Sailors fell to 5-10 overall and 2-5 in league play.

- To reach Luke Graham, call 871-4229

or e-mail lgraham@steamboatpilot.com