Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The reason was simple: the Steamboat Springs High School girls basketball team sank nine 3-pointers Saturday. That allowed the Sailors to thoroughly outpace Eagle Valley and climb above .500 for the season winning, 54-35 in Steamboat.

“When a team shoots 50 percent from 3, it’s hard to stay in the game,” Eagle Valley coach Sam Bartlett said.

Steamboat said those open looks came in rhythm with a well-played game elsewhere, however.

Senior Hannah Moore scored 24 points, hitting five of those treys, as Steamboat built a lead early and blew the game open in the second quarter. Eagle Valley had its moments, particularly in the paint, where Kayla Gagnon led the team with 14 points and proved a tough defensive obstacle. It was Steamboat’s day, however, and the Sailors dominated most of the game with a tough defense and that hot shooting.

“We had a better flow in the game than we usually do,” Moore said. “It always works best when we work as a team. That’s how we got those open looks, by moving it around as a team.”

Steamboat’s defense was at its best in the second quarter, a stretch where the team outscored Eagle Valley by 10.

“We executed well. We got a lot of good looks and second chance opportunities,” Steamboat coach John Ameen said. “We have shooters. When we get open looks, we’ll score.

“Defensively, we got so many tips. Our defensive energy really powered us on offense.”

The win bumped Steamboat to 7-6 on the season and 2-1 in Western Slope League play. Eagle Valley, meanwhile fell to 4-9 and 1-3 in the league.

Bartlett said although he saw plenty that needed cleaning up, he also saw bright spots in Saturday’s loss.

“We were being aggressive on defense and we started to get out and run a little more, which is something we’ve been working on,” he said. “Our intensity out of halftime and at the beginning of the game were both great. We just need to put four quarters together.”

Steamboat wasn’t about to let that happen Saturday. Eryn Rinck scored 15 points and Tara Spitellie had 10, and the Sailors stretched their lead throughout the fourth quarter.

Game statistics

STEAMBOAT GIRLS 54, EAGLE VALLEY 35

Eagle Valley 9-4-15-7 — 35

Steamboat 13-14-14-13 — 54

Eagle Valley — Ally Zehring 1 0-0 2, Nicole Harvey 2 0-0 5, Amanda Morgan 1 0-0 2, Brianna Roth 2 0-0 5, Luz Vidal 0 2-3 2, Cori Cramer 2 1-2 5, Kayla Gagnon 6 2-3 14. Totals 14 5-8 35.

Steamboat — Hannah Moore 8 3-7 24, Sydney Bauknecht 1 0-0 3, Eryn Rinck 7 0-1 15, Katie Lettunich 1 0-0 2, Tara Spitellie 4 0-0 10. Totals 21 3-6 54.

3-pointers: Eagle Valley (2) – Harvey, Roth. Steamboat (9) – Moore 5, Spitellie 2, Bauknecht, Rinck.