It’s time to move from one rivalry game to the next.
The Bayfield High School girls basketball team will host Pagosa Springs at 5:30 p.m. Friday at BHS.
Bayfield (7-10, 1-4 Intermountain League) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 55-47 win against Ignacio High School on Tuesday at IHS in its last game.
“It was big for us to finally win a close game,” BHS head coach Bri Simbeck said. “We’ve had a lot of games where we’ve been within 10 points and unfortunately came out on the losing end.”
The Wolverines have played six games that ended with a winning margin of 10 points or less and lost four of them.
Their first matchup with Pagosa Springs (15-0, 5-0 IML) wasn’t one of those games.
The Pirates, currently ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by CHSAANow.com, pounded BHS 50-25 and held the Wolverines to 30.3-percent shooting.
“We’ve seen what they run. We know what to expect more. We know how we match up with them,” Simbeck said. “For my girls, it’s an intimidating thing. We have to be mentally prepared to take that on as well as physically.”
Payton Shahan leads the Pirates in scoring at 12.3 points per game, while Taylor Strohecker puts up 11.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest.
The Pirates haven’t scored fewer than 46 or allowed more than 44 points all year.
“They put their best game on for everyone,” Simbeck said. “They have some really good players, but I think we have good players, too. It’s all about if we can come out and play hard and play aggressive. We played with them for one quarter, but it’s about trying to put four quarters together against them.”
But Pagosa Springs won’t be Bayfield’s only focus Friday night.
The Wolverines are encouraging fans of both teams to wear red in support of P.S. I Love You Day, which aims to raise awareness for suicide prevention.
“One of my big things in trying to build a program is that I want them to be the best students, athletes and citizens they can be, so I jumped at the chance to do a game for a cause,” Simbeck said. “I think we need to give back to our community.”
BHS will host Centauri on Saturday.
The Falcons beat them 52-45 on Jan. 31 in La Jara.
Tori Fringer leads Centauri (12-5, 3-3 IML) in scoring at 12.1 points per game, while four other Falcons average at least six points per game.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
