IHS girls trip 3A Centauri, 2A Rye
Had Ignacio had the springs to hang with two Springs sets, you might currently be reading about a Lady Bobcat team off to an eye-opening 4-and-0 start entering its Friday, Dec. 12 home opener.
Results from that contest, held inside SunUte Community Center against non-league 2A Center, were unavailable by press time, but IHS’ results of outings alternating between a season-opening loss on Dec. 2 to Pagosa Springs and Dec. 5 to Glenwood Springs (on Day 2 of the Centauri-hosted Mountain Top Classic) are savory enough as Ignacio felled two highly-rated opponents.
The second of which, Rye, ranked eighth in the preseason [released Nov. 24th] CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll, experienced the full force of emerging freshman forward/guard Hilda Garcia.
Having netted eleven points in her varsity debut in a 59-39 loss at second-ranked [11/24 Class 3A poll] PSHS – in which the Lady Cats trailed last season’s State runners-up by just five points (19-14) after one quarter and six (28-22) through two – Garcia then proceeded to score 14 in a 47-44 upset of CHS on day one of the MTC, and zapped the Lady Thunderbolts for 17 in a 43-40 victory on day three.
“With her size and God-given abilities, she is a basketball player,” said head coach Shane Seibel. “She loves the sport, plays with passion and, quite frankly, she’s going to be good for years to come!”
Maker of Ignacio’s first three hoops – a baseline layup and consecutive three-pointers at PSHS – of the 2014-15 campaign, senior point guard Sky Cotton had 13 points versus Rye, giving her outputs of 10-8-11-13 to begin her comeback from last winter’s knee injury.
On Day 2 of the Classic, held in Alamosa inside Adams State University’s Plachy Hall, Garcia paced IHS with 17 points in a 64-39 loss to 4A GSHS – like Centauri, a ‘Receiving Votes’ team in their classifications’ respective polls to start the season.
Her two early treys kept Ignacio (now 2-2 overall) close, 14-6, as the first quarter wound down, but behind the first eleven of senior guard Jordan DeCrow’s game-high 23 points, the Lady Demons led 22-11 entering the second and 35-23 entering the third – when Glenwood effectively put the game away by going on a 16-0 run after an early Cotton triple.
“We missed a lot of layups, which is a good sign in my book,” Seibel said. “Because we got it out early. And our offense is giving the girls good opportunities, good high-percentage shots – ours didn’t fall, theirs did, but they’re a good team.”
Freshman reserve guard Avionne Gomez scored seven points, while fellow backups Veronica Gonzales and Gibran Silva each had two in the loss. Senior post Madi Spence poured in 20 for the victors.
In the aforementioned win over the hosting Lady Falcons, junior Ellie Seibel’s seven points equaled classmate Cortney Baker’s and sophomore Alejandra Lujan’s, but the trio was then collectively blanked by GSHS – which then finished off a 3-and-0 Classic run to start their season with a 48-30 defeat of Centauri (1-2) on Day 3.
Losing to Ignacio dropped RHS to 0-3 overall, and left the Lady T-bolts in fourth at the MTC.
“I’m impressed with how our girls never gave up,” Seibel said. “One of the things that we’re focused on is ourselves,” he continued. “You know, individually making sure that we’re focused on seeing ourselves play the best that we can. That’s my message to them – to see what they’ve [opponents] got, but then also really put the attention back on themselves and come out ready.”