Junior forward Taylor Morris' 14-point, 5-rebound effort and sophomore center/forward Courtney Bayles' respective 12 and six would normally have had head coach Lana Killough jumping for joy last Saturday in Alamosa.

So would the fact that her Wolverines never quit against Kent Smith's Moose, who only outscored their guests in the second half by a 29-22 margin.

The problem was that - like the previous evening in La Jara - a turnover-heavy first half again left Bayfield with only the slimmest of chances to rally out in the San Luis Valley. After losing 61-30 at sixth-ranked (CHSAANow.com Class 3A poll, Feb. 1) Centauri, BHS fell 67-36 at AHS.

Freshman guard Tymbree Florian and junior guard Kyle Baker each had four points, and junior forward Maddi Foutz had two in the second contest, in which Bayfield trailed 14-6 after one quarter and 38-14 through two, BHS also surrendered 39 turnovers.

Against CHS (now 14-2 overall, 5-2 Intermountain League), Bayfield found themselves down 33-9 at intermission before gutting out a more competitive 28-21 second half. Again, they were undone by 36 turnovers-almost double that of the Falcons.

Sophomore center Ember Canty had a game-best 16 points and 13 rebounds for Centauri-which out-rebounded BHS 42-14-with senior guard Roni Fringer (13 points) and sophomore guard Alyssa Gomez (11) joining her in double figures. Senior Jordan Dunn was close to joining them with her eight.

Baker had nine points and Morris seven for the Wolverines, while Bayles and Florian each registered five, and sophomore Tiarra Christensen equaled Foutz's two.

Alamosa senior guard Brooke Trujillo had 17 points in the Saturday contest to lead all scorers in both games, and classmate Emily Sowards had 10 as nine Mean Moose scored at least one. The win improves Alamosa's record to 7-9, 4-3.

Now 0-6 in the IML and 4-11 overall, Bayfield returns to Monte Vista this evening. Bouncing back from an awful 65-17 thrashing at Pagosa Springs three evenings before, Monte Vista climbed to 12-5 overall (remaining 5-3 in league) by crushing 2A Center (4-11 overall) 61-25 Tuesday at home.

Intermountain League action then continues for BHS tomorrow at Montezuma-Cortez, with the Panthers limping into today's test at #1-ranked Pagosa Springs (15-0, 6-0) after falling to 7-10 overall (still 1-7 in league) via Tuesday evening's 65-18 thrashing at 4A Durango (13-4 overall).