Down 13-4 after one quarter, then 42-29 after three quarters following a highlight reel 3-pointer before the buzzer from Megan Jenkins of Cedaredge, the Ignacio High School girls basketball team refused to back down in the final eight minutes of a showdown of ranked Class 2A teams Friday night.
Ignacio mounted an 11-1 run in the fourth quarter to get right back in the game. A rare five-point play from Ignacio senior center Shelcie Gosney, who converted a layup through a foul, made one free throw and then two more when Cedaredge head coach Russell Coleman was issued a technical foul, would bring the Bobcats within 43-40 with 4 minutes, 44 seconds to play inside Ignacio‘s home gym.
The Bobcats then got as close as 45-43 on a strong bucket from sophomore Laci Brunson with a beautiful assist from senior Charlize Valdez.
But fifth-ranked Cedaredge (11-1, 8-1 2A/1A Western Slope League) would have enough to hold off the furious comeback from the No. 11 Ignacio Bobcats (8-2, 5-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League), as Kammie Henderson would hit a big shot and the Bruins’ defense buckled down to secure a 49-43 road victory.
“When we came out at halftime, coach really gave us a good talk, that we had to push if we really wanted to get close or win this game,” Brunson, who scored a game-high 15 points, said of the key to Ignacio’s play in the second half. “I feel like we just came out with everything we had.
“With a defense like theirs, our coaches just told us we really had to attack the gaps and kick to the shooters. That’s the only way we’re going to get open. So, I think we all just got aggressive there, started attacking gaps and found that open person.
It was the defense of Cedaredge that ultimately flustered the Bobcats and resulted in one of the winning plays, as Henderson drew a charge against Brunson with 35 seconds to play to help solidify the victory.
“Turnovers is what really killed us. Our turnovers in the first half and a little bit in the second,” IHS head coach Justa Whitt said. “If we could just manage those little things, I think we’re going to see a lot of difference in our girls in just the next week.”
Henderson led Cedaredge with 14 points. Paige McGovern added nine points, while Megan Gastineau and Jenkins each finished with eight.
For the Bruins, the road triumph came one night after a big 37-29 home win against Paonia (9-2) to avenge their only loss of the season suffered Feb. 13 in a 29-27 loss at Paonia.
“We were emotionally spent coming in already,” Coleman said of his group. “That was a really emotional win for us last night, and then we had a heck of a long bus ride, but my girls came ready to play. They kind of wore down a little bit; the toughness of the game got to us. But we bounced back and were able to hold on in the end. I’m pretty proud of them.”
Gosney finished with 13 points for IHS behind her five-point play. Jayden Brunson was held to five points.
“I was super-nervous,” Gosney said of her three big free throws. “I was just focusing, and the ref was trying to talk to me, but I was like, ‘Can’t talk to you right now.’ But I was just focusing, like, ‘We really need these.’ Every free throw counts. You never know when, but you’re always going to need them. With close games, you’re always going to need them.”
Whitt said a key for IHS in the second half was figuring out how to break Cedaredge’s press. The Bobcats did that by having Laci Brunson drive hard with the ball.
“At halftime, after kind of a little discouragement against their press, we finally started figuring out how to break that, and that helped in the second half, to not have that pressure on them,” Whitt said. “Once we figured out how to break it, we were fine, and I think that helped us come back a little bit.”
Whitt said Ignacio had anticipated the matchup with Cedaredge all season knowing it would be a big contest ahead of the looming playoffs. Ignacio’s only two losses this season have come to No. 1 Sanford and now No. 5 Cedaredge.
“That’s what we preached to the girls before the game, that they just had to play their game and that they would be OK,” Whitt said. “We knew that this was going to be a tough team; we’ve been anticipating this all season, and we knew that this game was going to come.”
IHS now will prepare to host Mancos on Tuesday night before a road trip to face Dove Creek and Telluride on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. The game at Telluride will be the final game of the regular season.
Joel Priest contributed to this report.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
