Ad
Sports Youth Sports Professional Sports More Sports College Sports High School Sports

Moran, Bayfield girls hyped to host Ignacio

First-year boss faces former team Friday
Bayfield’s Abby Tate, now a senior, plays against Ignacio’s defense last season. BHS will host IHS, which won 38-28 last season, on Friday for its first home game this season. (Joel Priest/Special to the Herald)

For Bayfield basketball head coach Lauren Moran, the day has arrived.

Besides being eager to see if her team can generate momentum going into the holiday break, the former Ignacio assistant will go head to head against many of her former players when the Lady Wolverines host the Lady Bobcats at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

“I mean, I feel optimistic that we can make it a competitive game, but I don’t know beyond that if anything plays into our favor,” she said Thursday morning. “But I think it should be really competitive, and I’m excited to get out there – especially to have our first home game of the year!”

With Moran aiding Justa Whitt on IHS’ bench, Ignacio won last season’s showdown 38-28 in IHS Gymnasium.

“We did get sucked into their game, playing at their pace,” now-senior Wolverine Abby Tate said afterward. “I guess they just wanted it more; their minds were clearer, they saw the court better.”

“We weren’t able to get good passes into the paint area. And because of that, even when Abby had good positioning, we weren’t able to feed her as much as she deserved, probably,” then-head coach Josh Kitchen had said.

“Obviously I know most of the (Ignacio) girls and how they play,” Moran said, “but there’s still a lot of unknowns since they too have a new coach. I’m not really sure what they practice, or as far as specifics about their game plan and style of play. But I’m super-excited.”

Featuring Tate, senior Jordan Martindale and junior Abria Thayer on a relatively green roster, and seeking stability beyond that trio, Bayfield (0-4 overall, 0-0 3A Intermountain) most recently ventured to the Buena Vista Invitational on Saturday – after missing its Friday session because of weather – but fell 44-24 to Gunnison, with their point total only slightly above their to-date average of 22.5 per game.

“That was a little bit frustrating. I didn’t feel like we played as well as we could have,” said Moran, alluding to the fact Gunnison (0-13 last season) wasn’t the type of team BHS had seen the previous weekend at the Eaton-hosted Northern Colorado Roundball Classic.

“But I was still glad we made the trip – even though it was a super-long day – to play one game, because it kind of continued to shed light on things we need to work on in practice.”

Having lost 72-15 to defending state champion and preseason Class 3A’s No. 1 Kersey Platte Valley and 71-13 to preseason No. 6 Eaton (losing 71-13), Moran and assistants Tiarra Christensen and Jamie Wursten remain committed to developing the program.

“The team is definitely pretty young, so there’s really a lot that I need to teach them and that they need to learn. So we’re kind of in the middle of that process,” she said. “But I would say overall, we’re heading in the right direction. The girls are all just really coachable and really positive, hardworking.”

After battling the Lady Bobcats (2-3, 0-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin), BHS will close out its pre-Christmas schedule Saturday against San Juan in Blanding, Utah. San Juan, reclassified from 3A to 2A and starting with a 1-5 record, averages 34.5 points per game.

IHS seeks to rebound

Ignacio’s varsity came up short Tuesday 60-45 at Pagosa Springs. The game followed a junior-varsity game, which, until the fourth quarter, saw more fouls than field goals (field goals narrowly won out, 29 to 28). Pagosa Springs also shot an uncharacteristic 3-of-16 from the free-throw line but managed to prevail in the JV contest, 46-19

In the varsity game, three 3-pointers and 11 points from junior Laci Brunson’s team-leading 16, plus nine of senior Avaleena Nanaeto’s 11, new skipper Tony Gomez’s 2A Lady ’Cats managed to play Charles Rand’s 3A Pagosa Pirates to a 27-27 second-half draw. Ignacio, however,went into the closing eight minutes trailing by an imposing 21 points, 45-24.

Helped by 8-of-10 accuracy before intermission from the charity stripe and four treys after the break, PSHS improved to 5-1 overall behind freshman Karsyn Shahan’s game-high 21 points. Senior Trista Tully logged 12, with 11 coming before halftime in helping Pagosa expand a 14-10 lead after one quarter out to 33-18 through two. She’d also finish 6-of-7 from the foul line as PSHS unofficially ended up a vital 13-of-16.

Senior Kori Lucero also reached double figures with her 11 points, 10 coming during the second half. Junior Chantelle Caldwell and freshman Elizabeth Currier each tallied six and sophomore Annie O’Donnell chipped in four.

IHS sophomore Darlyn Lechuga-Mendoza sank 6 of 9 free throws and totaled 12 points, and junior Harmony Reynolds contributed six, but none after the first quarter while accruing four personal fouls. Nanaeto would get a disqualifying fifth foul with only 7.4 seconds remaining.

Now and later

Known for coming out aggressively on defense and guns blazing offensively, Ignacio has posted a plus-6 (55-49) scoring margin during their 2021-22 season’s five first quarters. Maintaining such intensity after halftime, however, has been tricky; the Lady ’Cats are a plus-1 (54-53) during second quarters, but then a minus-28 (36-64) during third-quarter play.