OURAY COUNTY – Waiting for Bayfield to arrive Tuesday evening, Ouray High School girls basketball’s Charlotte Vanderploeg decided to take extra shooting practice, nailing two half-court shots.
It would be a good omen for the Trojans as Vanderploeg was one of the big reasons Ouray came away with a 27-25 home.
For with the visitors wanting desperately to improve upon a paltry performance in 3A/4A Intermountain League action four days before, anything Vanderploeg could net would be crucial, starting with the game’s very first basket, which broke the proverbial ice. Senior center/forward Brooke Edder then cleaned up an offensive rebound for another two points, and freshman guard Mikayla Hirt, who’d assisted on Vanderploeg’s shot, increased 1A OHS’ lead to 6-0 with her first bucket.
Senior guard Arriyanna Cundiff-Huerta finally got Bayfield going with a trey, but Vanderploeg countered 20 clock ticks later with a confident triple. Even the Trojans’ reserves fed off it; freshman guard Alayna Hamm whipped a pass around a defender to Hirt, who pumped a mid-range baseline jumper in for an 11-3 advantage which carried into the second quarter.
“Couldn’t have asked for much more from that start; it really, for us, kind of set a tone,” said Ouray head coach Craig Kaminsky. “The girls came out with fire, ran some press and I think we did a good job of keeping the Wolverines more off-kilter on offense – allowing us to attack a bit more.”
BHS sophomore guard Kieley White Thunder made two free throws with 6:22 left until halftime, but Vanderploeg again responded with a three. After White Thunder halved another pair from the charity stripe, cashed two FTs herself – increasing Ouray’s lead to 16-6 with 1:03 to go. Cundiff-Huerta canned her second trey in the game just before the buzzer but, in a predictor of things to come, had picked up her third foul with 29.1 seconds left while applying full-court pressure.
Third-quarter play was slower in developing, and Bayfield got no closer than 18-11 before Vanderploeg connected from close range with 3:22 remaining while also drawing Cundiff-Huerta’s fourth personal. But with their co-captain benched, the Wolverines somehow shifted into a hidden higher gear – and cut OHS’ lead down to 20-15 with 1:03 left via sophomore forward Grace Brown’s alert catch and conversion of an airballed White Thunder three.
Freshman reserve Macy Robinette began the fourth quarter sinking a White Thunder-assisted triple, making the score 20-18, but Vanderploeg answered with a free throw – product of a Robinette foul – with 6:54 left in regulation. But BHS’ comeback continued; freshman guard Zoe Gabb nailed a mid-range jumper off the left wing, and White Thunder followed with a spinning semi-hook shot finally getting the Wolverines their first lead at 22-21.
Hirt followed with a rebound/put back regaining Ouray a 23-22 edge but, after being hacked by Edder, Brown converted a vital ‘and-one’ opportunity giving BHS a promising 25-23 lead. Edder, however, answered with a cleanup basket coming with just about a minute to go, but Hirt then missed two FTs with 0:56.5 remaining. Unluckily for the Wolverines, Cundiff-Huerta then fouled out with 0:23.8 to go and Vanderploeg capitalized, nailing two go-ahead FTs.
Able to then get a defensive rebound at the other end, she accidentally gave Bayfield one last chance after being called for a double-dribble with 0:06.4 left. BHS head coach Ben Martinez used a timeout and, figuring Kaminsky’s crew would key on White Thunder, deemed Brown the alternate option. Brown ended up with the rock on the left wing and a good look, but her 17-footer over Hirt was slightly off-line and the rebound flew over the far side of the rim to, fittingly, Vanderploeg.
“When Coach Ben took the last timeout, we actually put a little plan in place to try to foul, we only had two team fouls, and…make them reset, inbound and burn some clock,” said Kaminsky. “Fortunately we had a really good contest on the young lady (Brown) who took the shot. Charlotte got that rebound, and couldn’t have been a more appropriate girl to close out the game; whether from the free-throw line or on the glass…she really just did well.”
White Thunder led the Wolverines with seven points in defeat. Vanderploeg led the Trojans (3-10 overall, 0-4 3A/2A/1A San Juan Basin) with 15 points.
“I’m just proud of the girls, that they come out and fight,” Martinez said. “Every game that they’re in they continue to fight, from the (opening) tip to the end. Every player has to be ready to do what they need to do…and I’m seeing incremental growth in each of the girls, and in the team as a whole.”
The 3A Wolverines (3-11, 0-4 IML) will next resume league play on Friday at 4A Pagosa Springs (6-7, 3-1). Tip-off against the Pirates, with three wins in their last four outings is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Bayfield will then host 4A Montezuma-Cortez the next afternoon; the Panthers stood 5-8 overall, 1-3 IML prior to their Friday trip to 3A Monte Vista (7-5, 1-2).
