Hayden girls basketball team overcomes West Grand
Steamboat Springs — Friday night the Hayden High School girls basketball team was near its best, routing Soroco in a heated rivalry game. Today the Tigers may have been near their worst, struggling with a West Grand squad that has limped though the season.
Hayden coach Eric Hamilton said a spirited Mustangs’ defense combined with his own team’s flat play to give the Tigers a fright. In the end, Hayden still had enough, however, winning 50-37.
“We were very flat. We shot very poorly,” Hamilton said. “We just never did get in an offensive rhythm at all. We were completely out of it.”
Hayden led by 6 at halftime, 20-14, and managed to slowly open things up in the second half.
Senior Morgan Bell scored in double figures for the second consecutive day, leading the team with 10. Erin Koehler and Delanie VeDepo each scored 9.
Hayden, 15-3, beat the same team in mid-January 64-15.
“I give credit to their defense. They played hard,” Hamilton said about the Mustangs.
Still, he said many of the problems he saw stemmed from his own team’s approach.
“We were overlooking them,” he said. “We had a high-energy win against Soroco, and we just looked past this one, thought it would be really easy.
“We had a long talk in the locker room afterwards, and we’re going to be better from it. Now we need to get back to work.”
Hayden closes out its regular season at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Little Snake River, Wyo. The Tigers can’t come out flat in that one. The Rattlers beat Hayden 57-28 last time they played.
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