The Ignacio girls basketball team fell Friday night in New Mexico to a tough Kirtland Central team as the Bobcats mustered just 23 points in a 53-23 loss.
Ignacio’s offense was not as sharp and it got off to a slow start, as they went down 23-7 at half. Bobcats head coach Justa Whitt thought the Broncos’ press was the difference.
“I thought the girls did really well, but we struggled with the press,” Whitt said. “They’re a top New Mexico team and we knew it was going to be a tough one, and it was. Our offense never really got going until the fourth quarter when it was out of reach. But we’re ready for a quick turnaround for tomorrow.”
Kirtland Central (5-2) was led by Tatelyn Manheimer, who led all scorers and finished with 14 points, while Monique Shim finished with 11. The Bobcats were led by Makayla Howell, who finished with 13 points and Ebonee Gomez had four points.
Ignacio (2-2) will host Cedaredge at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at IHS.
Durango lost in the first round of the Pueblo County Holiday Tournament Thursday night as they fell to the tournament hosts, 36-22. Friday afternoon’s tilt against Palmer would result in another tough loss, as the Demons lost 46-38.
After getting off to a slow start in which they were down 15-9 at halftime, the Demons tied the game at 34 midway through the fourth quarter after being down as many as 11 points.
Palmer (2-1) took a 36-34 lead and never looked back as the Terrors went on a 12-4 run to close it out.
“I thought we played well, and to turn around and to battle like that, it was good to see,” said DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick. “After we tied it up, we just didn’t get the defensive stops we needed to. They showed a lot of fight today and we’re getting a ton of good experience against great competition.”
Senior Tayler Dossey led the way for the Demons with 12 points, while sophomore Kyle Rowland and freshman Sydney Flores had six.
Durango (1-5) will have another difficult 24 hours as it will play two games on Saturday, including against the No. 3-ranked team in the latest Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A poll, Air Academy. Tip-off against Air Academy is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Pueblo County High School.
The Bayfield girls basketball team also fell in out-of-state action on Friday night and lost to San Juan of Utah, 58-41.
Head coach Josh Kitchen saw improvement from last year’s performance, particularly from beyond the arc.
“Last year, we played them and lost by 20,” Kitchen said. “Tonight, it was a one of our better efforts on offense, and we really came alive at the 3-point line. I was pretty happy with our peformance, and while I’d love to close the gap a bit, considering how young we are and it was on the road, we played well.”
Bayfield (1-4) was led by senior Tymbree Florian, who scored 14 points on the night, while Brooke Merchant finished with 11 and Macee Shultz had eight.
The Wolverines will stay in the Beehive State, as they will square off against Monticello at 4 p.m. Saturday at Monticello High School.
Boys basketball
Boys basketballBig-time players make big-time plays. That was certainly the case Friday night as Durango High School got back to .500 on the season with a 59-56 win over tournament host Mitchell in the second round of the Mitchell Tournament.
Sophomore guard Jordan Woolverton blocked a potential game-winning 3-point attempt in the closing seconds. While Woolverton had the late-game heroics, the Demons (4-4) relied heavily on senior captain Cullen Robinette, who led Durango in scoring with 21 points. The win was never going to be easy, as Mitchell (1-2) took the lead late and the teams traded baskets until the final few possessions.
Durango had a chance to ice the game with six seconds remaining, as head coach Alan Batiste ran a risky inbounds play. Robinette, the inbounder, waited until a teammate went out-of-bounds along the baseline, handed the ball off to him, and the captain re-established himself in-bounds, received the pass and was fouled. He made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe and that was the difference.
“I’ve probably ran that play maybe three or four times in my coaching career,” Batiste said. “But it shows how far they’ve come, they didn’t panic, executed it perfectly and Cullen got it done at the charity stripe. We’ve still got some things to work on, but Cullen really stepped up for us tonight and put everyone on his back when it mattered the most.”
Senior Al Hurworth finished with 13 points despite fouling out, Woolverton ended with nine and senior Clay Seibel chipped in eight.
The Demons will end the Mitchell Tournament and look to get back to a winning record on Saturday. DHS will play Denver North at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mitchell High School.
The final game of the night saw San Juan defeat the Bayfield High School boys basketball team 75-58 on Friday night. The Wolverines got off to a quick start and led at the half, 33-30. However, the second half was a different story. The Broncos (3-2) scored 33 points in the third quarter alone and finished the second half with 45 points and took advantage of a plethora of turnovers to get past Bayfield (3-3).
“We had a good first half,” said BHS head coach Klint Chandler. “We need to learn how to play a full game. (We) had a lot of turnovers in the second half that led to easy layups for them. (I) hope we can come out tomorrow and play a (whole) game.”
Senior guard Turner Kennedy was the leading scorer for BHS, as he finished with 30 points, while junior power forward Ethan Morris scored nine points.
The Wolverines will host Farmington at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bayfield High School.
bploen@durangoherald.com
