Area teams have mixed results in starting league play over weekend

Area teams have mixed results in starting league play over weekend

Jan. 16, 2001

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

The area high school varsity boys and girls basketball teams had mixed results over the weekend.

Montezuma-Cortez High School split games with the Panther boys and girls winning Friday night, Jan. 12, against visiting Fruita-Monument. But they both lost games to Central of Grand Junction on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 13. Both games were Southwestern League contests played in Ron Wright Memorial Gym.

The Cortez boys nipped the Wildcats 46-42.

"We had a really good second half," MCHS head boys coach Wade Mortensen said. "We played a great second half. We were down by 12 points at one time (in the third quarter) and we clawed our way back."

Fruita led 16-13 at the end of the first half and held a 24-17 at the intermission. The teams played about evenly in the third with MCHS outscoring Fruita 15-14 but it was in the fourth quarter where Cortez’ defense came through. The Panthers limited the Wildcats to just four points while they scored 14.

Chris Garland led the way with 17, Marcus Mortensen added 13, and Layne Frazier 8. Eric Reiners led Fruita with 14 and Randy Kendall chipped in 10.

What also pleased coach Mortensen was the team’s free throw shooting. The Panthers hit 19 of 24 attempts. At the same time, Fruita struggled at the line by making only four of 13. He also was pleased with the overall defensive play.

The Panther boys fell behind early to the Warriors. Central led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. Cortez played a very good second quarter by outscoring Central 24-17. It was tied 41-41 late in the third when they ran away. The Warriors knocked down 19 and Cortez 13 in the third quarter and outpointed them 23-6 in the fourth to win going away.

Garland scored 14, Frazier 11, and Mortensen 10. Andrew Roberts led Central with 19 and Dustin Phillips added 10.

"We played very good defense until the last quarter. Defensively, we did a poor job in that quarter. Central just blitzed us. Offensively, we had some shots but they didn’t drop for us. And in fourth, we didn’t make very good shot selections," he added.

The Panther girls dominated both offensively and defensively against Fruita in winning 44-28. Cortez led 11-8 at the end of the first quarter and then slowly pulled away. They led 24-12 at the intermission and 35-20 at the end of the third.

Stefanie Allison gunned in 15, Emilie Lanier added 10, and Casey Bauer nine. Alicia Phillips led Fruita with 13.

"We slowed them down with our very good defensive play," MCHS head girls coach Stan Yake remarked. "We played good defensive from the get-go. Offensively, we starting to improve. We are running our offense better. We got some good shots and we put them in."

MCHS looked like a different team against Central, losing 52-35. But Yake was quick to point out that Central has a very good team.

"They are well coached. They handled the ball well. They shot the ball very well," he noted.

Central held a slim 18-16 lead after the first period. The Warriors pulled out to a 34-25 lead at the half. They led 45-31 at the end of three quarters.

"Our offense sputtered in the second half. We missed a lot of inside shots, from three to four feet away. Had we made some of those we would have been knocking on the door. We did play pretty good offense at times. Central also made a lot of offensive rebounds, getting second and third shots," he added.

The Dolores boys clobbered Norwood to win its opening San Juan Basin League game with an easy 81-48 win Friday. Dolores led 21-14 at the end of the first quarter and held a commanding 41-26 advantage at the intermission. The Bears outscored Norwood 50-24 in the second half.

Cullen Zion led the way with 20 points, Justin Schmitt 12, while Waylon Bennett added 16 and Aeson Reed and Kevin Fane 10 each. Schmitt made six steals while Bennett made eight. Schmitt also dished out 16 assists.

"Our defense was tenacious," Dolores head boys coach Todd Wynne reported. "We made 21 steals. I was really pleased with our defense. And our defense made our offense go."

The Mancos girls had no problems beating Dolores County in a SJBL game played at Dolores on Friday. The Blue Jays won 63-29.

Mancos led 10-3 at the end of the first quarter. The two teams played about evenly in the second quarter. Mancos led 26-18 at the break. But things fell apart for the Bulldogs as Mancos played very tough defense. Mancos outscored DCHS 37-11 in the second half.

"We executed our offense," MHS head girls coach Kevin Dimmick commented. "Our cutters did a good job and we passed very well. It was our best offensive effort of the season. If we can continue to play like that, we will do okay the rest of the season."

Kerri Morgan led Mancos with a game-high 26, most of those coming on layups. Amanda Kennedy tossed in nine while Katie Paxton chipped in seven points. Michelle Davis and Shandra Johnson each scored eight for DCHS.

"We played tough the first half," DCHS first-year coach Kim Young noted. "We stayed right with them and we were making a come back. But we could not stop Morgan in the second half. I think we also got a little tired in the second half."

The Mancos boys struggled offensively in the first half but shook off the cobwebs and methodically took Dolores County apart in the second half. Mancos, who had lost to DCHS three times last year (twice in league and once in the district tournament), won 44-36.

Mancos led 8-5 at the end of the first quarter and held a 21-15 advantage at the half. Mancos started running and gunning in the third quarter to outpoint DCHS 14-7. Dove Creek made a comeback in the fourth, outscoring Mancos 14-9.

Jesse Rousset hit for 11, Bill Baker added 10 and Travis Clark eight. Keith Pierce led the Bulldogs with 15.

"We came out and played better offensively in the third quarter. Our big three (Rousset, Baker and Clark) broke loose. I thought we rebounded much better in the second half than we did in the first. And any time you hold a team to 36 points, you must be playing pretty good defense," Mancos head boys coach Gary Hill said.

The Panthers will travel to face Grand Junction High this Friday night, Jan. 19, and then go to play Montrose on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 20, in SWL play. The Blue Jays host Norwood Friday night and travel to Nucla on Saturday in SJBL action. Dolores boys and girls visit Telluride and then host Dolores County on Saturday. DCHS boys and girls visit Nucla Friday night.