The Bayfield High School girls and boys basketball teams won their penultimate home games on Saturday against Telluride with the boys winning 51-35 and the girls 36-13.
Seniors Isaac Forsythe, Cooper Roderick, Austin Wilmer, Lincoln Williams, Neatris Wilbourn and Chad Vasgird all stepped off BHS Gymnasium’s court victorious Saturday afternoon after four quarters of basketball.
The triumph itself, however, probably wasn’t of the quality Bayfield’s coaching staff would have preferred – considering the postseason-minded Wolverines will need all the momentum they can muster to close out regular-season work against 3A/4A Intermountain League opponents Montezuma-Cortez and Pagosa Springs.
Needing to pull off a supreme shocker on the road as they hoped to prolong their own 2024-25 season, Telluride caught Bayfield off-guard early with junior forward Langston Silbergeld stringing together the Miners’ first nine points.
Fortunately for BHS, Roderick drained two 3-pointers and totaled 10 first-quarter points as the home team actually trailed 14-12 after eight uneasy minutes. But with increased focus on Silbergeld and tight backcourt defense on THS guards Sam Herman and Alex Nieto, Bayfield managed to gain the upper hand and take a 25-19 lead into halftime – though 11 of the Wolverines’ 13 second-quarter points came from their reserves.
But as any 3A/2A/1A San Juan Basin bunch could tell you, Nieto can usually be contained for only so long. After he drilled his first trey late in the third quarter – giving him all eight of the guests’ third-quarter points – Telluride was suddenly back to 31-27. With less than a minute remaining, however, BHS sophomore Drew Jepson responded from long distance, stabilizing the Wolverines’ lead at 34-27 going into the final frame.
Silbergeld, meanwhile, continued to rack up rebounds but after his early explosion stayed silent offensively and went scoreless throughout the second, third and fourth quarters. Six of THS’ eight points in the fourth came from the free-throw line, while Williams went 3-of-4 from the charity stripe and totaled five points to help put Bayfield well ahead.
Wilmer and Roderick then capped BHS’ 51-35 win by each logging a 2-pointer within the last 10 seconds, with Roderick’s coming from roughly 12 feet out after he intercepted the Miners’ inbounds pass following Wilmer’s layup.
Roderick finished with a game-high 16 points for Bayfield (13-8 overall, 6-4 IML) and Williams totaled seven.
Herman (3-4 FT, 2 3-PT) and Nieto (4-8 FT) each scored 13 points for 3A Telluride (7-14, 4-6 SJBL), which lost its fourth straight game.
BHS will welcome 4A M-CHS (17-5, 9-2 IML) on Friday night, then travel to 4A PSHS on Saturday, March 1. The Pirates stood 7-14 overall, 4-6 in league prior to a Tuesday trip to 4A Alamosa (3-18, 1-9).
Wolverine girls win season’s last nonleague game against Telluride
Even without recently-injured Emma Reggiannini, Telluride could, while breaking through Bayfield’s full-court pressure, still frequently go from one end of the court to the other without so much as a single bounce of the basketball.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the senior star’s absence was felt most when it was time to finish the play.
After seeing the Wolverines grow an 8-3 lead after one quarter to 26-7 through two, the Miners couldn’t mount any sort of second-half comeback Saturday afternoon and fell 36-13 inside BHS Gymnasium.
Senior Renae Foutz recorded nine of her game-high 17 points during the second quarter as 3A Bayfield (6-15 overall, 0-10 3A/4A Intermountain), ignited by a quick 3-pointer by sophomore Kimball Anderson, outscored 3A Telluride (6-15, 3-7 3A/2A/1A San Juan Basin) 18-4 to take firm control.
The Wolverines – aided greatly by improved rebounding courtesy freshman Grace Brown, increased their advantage to 34-8 after three quarters and then essentially coasted to victory despite Foutz (with 7:20 left in the game) and Brown (2:27 remaining) fouling out. Anderson finished with seven points and six steals (Foutz nabbed a team-best seven steals).
Freshman reserve Hazel Noel ended up being the Miners’ best asset as she scored a team-best five points.
BHS will next resume league play Friday evening at home versus 4A Montezuma-Cortez (6-16, 2-9 IML), then close out regular season play the next afternoon at 4A Pagosa Springs. PSHS stood 15-6 overall, 9-1 in league prior to a scheduled Tuesday game at 4A Alamosa (16-5, 8-2).
