Steamboat Pilot & Today

Oak Creek — The Soroco girls basketball team has spent the past week trying — generally unsuccessfully — to work through the intense full-court pressure of opponents.

The Rams went 0-2 in the span, losing games to two of the top teams in the Western Slope League.

On Friday night, Soroco applied a little aggressive pressure of its own, and it worked wonders. A sterling defensive effort combined with a late offensive awakening to power the Rams past North Park, 49-26.

“We really wanted to press them and get them frazzled,” Soroco junior Brandi Roundtree said. “We’ve done that all season, but we really executed it this game.”

Soroco gobbled up North Park turnovers throughout the first half, the young Wildcats team often looking lost against an in-your-face presence fronted by Roundtree. That led to a 13-4 first-quarter lead, but Soroco’s own offensive deficiencies prevented the gap from growing to match the pace and tone of the game.

North Park closed the 11-point first-quarter gap to six in the second quarter before Madison George drained a 3-pointer and Lindsay Miles hit two free throws to open the game back up.

The Wildcats made it close again in the third, cutting the Soroco’s lead to six.

“We wore our throwback jerseys tonight — the girls really wanted to do that, and maybe it made us sluggish on offense because those jerseys are a little bit shorter,” Soroco coach David Bruner said.

George, who finished with a game-high 19 points was there again to slam the door for the Rams.

She grabbed a quick pass from Ceanna Rossi and laid it in for two points. Rossi scored moments later and Miles hit a 3-point shot of her own to close out the third quarter and give Soroco an 11-point lead.

“We played pretty well tonight. We made some great adjustments in the last quarter,” Bruner said. “Good teams need to be able to do that, to make adjustments in a game and have it work.”

Things got ugly in the fourth as the Rams blew the game open, stretching the lead to as many as 24 points.

The Rams play at 2:30 p.m. today, again at home, against West Grand.

“We have to finish more, and we have to rebound better,” Round­­tree said. “We’re doing well.”

Game statistics

Soroco 49, North Park 26

North Park          4-8-9-5 – 26

Soroco  13-10-9-17 – 49

North Park: Johnna Baller 1 2-2 4, Tayler Sykes 3 7-9 13, Lucia Banuelos 3 2-3 8, Aspin Sanchez 0 1-3 1, Anna Elze 0 0-1 0. Totals 7 12-18 26.

Soroco: Brandi Roundtree 1 0-0 2, Lindsay Miles 1 2-2 5, Corey Snyder 2 1-3 5, Micaela Meyer 4 0-2 8, Madison George 7 2-6 19, Ceanna Rossi 4 0-0 8, Caitlyn Berry 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 7-15 49.

3-pointers: Soroco (4) – George 3, Miles.