IGNACIO – All five of them just stood there barely moving for more than two minutes.
Ouray would not leave its zone at the end of the third quarter of Thursday’s girls basketball game with Ignacio High School no matter how much the Bobcats worked the ball around the perimeter.
IHS (5-11, 3-2 San Juan Basin League) led 33-25 at the time and held on to take the game 46-34.
“I expected them to come out and play us,” said Gabriela Garcia, daughter of Elco Garcia and Naomi Russell.
IHS head coach Shane Seibel wanted to bring the Trojans out of their zone and make Ouray defend his team man-to-man once the Bobcats got the lead.
Ouray (5-7, 2-5 SJBL) stubbornly stayed in its zone, despite urging from fans on both sides of the gym.
“I wanted them to have some patience, be calm within the storm and tick off that third quarter,” he said.
The Bobcats trailed 23-18 at the half after an 11-2 Ouray run in the second quarter, but they stormed out of the locker room after halftime to recapture the lead.
Chrystianne Valdez made three steals that led to easy fast-break baskets in the quarter. She finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
“It’s our intensity,” Seibel said. “They played a tough game (Wednesday night), and that intensity had to be lit.”
IHS outscored Ouray 15-2 in the third quarter as part of a 22-2 second-half run.
Garcia led the Bobcats with 18 points, and she also had eight rebounds.
Angela Herrera posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She also had three steals and a block.
IHS shut down Ouray’s leading scorer, Jackie Saunders, who scored 12 points, but 10 of them came from the free throw line. Saunders didn’t make a field goal until there were 3 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We just doubled down and tried our hardest to keep playing on her,” Garcia said. “If she passed one of us, another person would step up and take her.”
The Bobcats were playing without senior leading scorer Cloe Seibel, who injured her ankle in a 48-37 win at Nucla on Wednesday.
They’ve won two consecutive games for the first time all season and won’t have much time to take a break.
IHS will play Friday at Mancos in its third game in three days. The Bluejays have lost two consecutive games and four of their last five.
“Momentum is where we want to be right now,” Seibel said. “We want to be on that side of it to really carry it forth to the district tournament. It couldn’t come at a better time.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
