Despite becoming the fifth opponent in Ignacio’s eight outings held to 20 points or fewer, Telluride somehow avoided the sort of fate which befell fellow 2A/1A San Juan Basin Leaguers Ridgway the previous evening – despite both squads struggling to simply put forth a starting five in recent weeks.
Traveling to IHS Gymnasium Saturday afternoon, Jan. 13, the Lady Miners found themselves trailing early (down 24-4 after one quarter) in much the same way as had the Lady Demons (down 26-3), but ultimately lost by a far closer margin, 54-16.
Senior guard Avionne Gomez led all players with her 18 points, sophomore center Morgan Herrera added 15 and senior reserve forward Allisianna Baker also reached double figures with her ten. Freshman guard Ebonee Gomez, who’d actually outscored (16 to 14) her big sister the previous evening, chipped in six. THS’ individual counts had not been reported by press time, but turnovers – forced or not – likely outnumbered the offensive output.
And that, as well as his team’s diverse scoring, was the prime continuation of the previous evening’s action which likely pleased head coach Trae Seibel the most.
“We … played a well-rounded game,” Seibel said. “Just about everyone got in the scorebook. The girls stayed together … against a pretty tall Telluride team and hit some outside shots.”
Going into the weekend ranked eighth in the CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll, the Lady ’Cats improved to 8-0 overall and 5-0 SJBL with the win, while the Lady Miners dropped to 1-6, 1-1.
Up next, the Lady ’Cats will visit Norwood on Saturday, Jan. 20, with the day’s action set to begin at 2 p.m., and then host Nucla on the 26th – a contest to be held inside SunUte Community Center. Results from IHS’ non-league trip to 2A Sargent on Thursday, Jan. 18, were unavailable at press time.
RAVAGING RIDGWAY
RHS head coach Nate Firkins, like THS’ Jose Orellana, knew things might get out of hand quickly, and stressed to his team just to continue working as hard as they could and do whatever they could.
Arriving with a roster reduced to just six serviceable players—one playing in just her second game—by two out-of-district moves, one knee injury and another player turning in her uniform for personal reasons, Firkins really couldn’t tell his crew much more against a team which not only held it scoreless for the first five minutes, 38 seconds, but let it cross midcourt just once during the first three minutes of an 84-7 blowout.
Complicating matters more, Lady Demon freshman Lia Todd fouled out with 10.8 seconds left in the third quarter – leaving sophomore teammates Geri-June Hall and Lily Harrington to walk on eggshells during the final frame as each had already accrued four personal fouls with no more substitutes available.
Herrera’s 20 points, 16 coming during the first half – which ended with Ignacio up 50-7, meaning RHS failed to score in the third and fourth quarters – paced all. Sophomore Michaela Messer led Ridgway (0-8, 0-2) with five, and Hall nailed two second-quarter free throws for the visitors’ other two points.
Baker nearly reached double figures with her nine points, freshman forward/center Shelcie Gosney did likewise with eight, and freshman guard Jayden Brunson booked six as nine of Seibel’s 11 players contributed at least one point.