|
||||
|
December 20, 2001
By Jim Thomas Tournament host Mancos High School boys and girls varsity basketball teams opened their first of three round-robin games Tuesday night, Dec.18, with the girls hosting Durango JV and the boys Ignacio in the Mancos Performance Center. Mancos girls defeated Durango JVs 56-42 while Ignacio boys ran away from Mancos by taking a 79-64 victory. It was in the second quarter where the Blue Jay girls shined both offensive and defensively. Yeomans made a 10-foot set shot which gave the Jays a 17-13 advantage. A few minutes later Yeomans made a backdoor layup which put them up 20-13. While Durango was not playing defense, Mancos was. While the Demons were missing easy shots, the Blue Jays were making shots. MHS held Durango to only three points, a basket by Brindee Page and a free throw by Renata Voorhees. Meanwhile, Yeomans scored eight of her 17 points in the quarter. Mancos girls jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead and fell behind only once at 5-6 early in the first quarter. The Blue Jays tied the game at 8-8. A breakaway layup by Yeomans put Mancos up 12-8. Jolene Thomas’s drive to the lane for a bucket put Mancos up 13-11. The young Demons came back and tied the game at 13 just before the quarter ended. Durango came back strong in the third quarter. Tracy Sutter, who paced the Demons with 14 points, got hot from the perimeter and sank three treys. Cambria Hanson, who finished the game with 18, gave Mancos a 34-22 lead when she scored on a give-and-go. Page, who finished with 10, cut the difference to 34-25 when she hit a three. A few minutes later Hanson gave the Jays back a more comfortable lead at 38-28. Mancos led 42-36 when the quarter ended. Yeomans and Hanson made back-to-back layups to open the fourth quarter. Durango called time-out in order to regroup. Hanson made two more easy scores and it was all over. Mancos held a commanding 54-40 lead with only 2 minutes, 23 seconds to go. "We have been playing well, but we don’t have a lot of great athletes," MHS head girls coach Kevin Dimmick said following the game. "We lost Katie Paxton to an ankle injury the game before (she should be back by San Juan Basin League play in January), and we missed her leadership and calm, steady play out there tonight. But the girls kept plugging away tonight and played a good game." Dimmick was pleased that his girls are grasping what they need to do with the motion offense. "This is our fourth year running it. They are feeling more and more comfortable with it. It’s getting natural for them. The made some nice pick and rolls. Their passes were crisp. That offense is hard to defense against," he added. The varsity portion of the tournament opened Monday, Dec. 17, with Farmington High JVs taking on Montezuma-Cortez High JVs (both boys and girls). FHS JV boys beat Cortez JVs 74-59 and FHS JV girls defeated Cortez JV 56-46. Drake McCullouch pumped in a game-high 30 points and Nate Burns added 12 for the Scorpion boys. Ryan Mortensen ripped the cords for 26 and Dustin Cosper chipped in 12 for MCHS. Katie Schlotterback, Lyndsey Griffith and Amanda Harris each scored 9 for FHS JV girls. Christina Schaak tossed in 12 for Cortez JVs. Mancos boys did absolutely nothing offensively in the third quarter, scoring only two points (by Travis Clark, who finished with a game-high 25 points). That spelled disaster for the Blue Jays. The Bobcats pumped in 16 points during the quarter, including two threes by Chris Phillips. Ben Neil scored 6 of his 14 points in the period. "You aren’t going to win very many basketball games by scoring only two points in the third period. We went back to what we were doing during the first quarter in not playing good defense or running our offense. Consequently, they built a big lead up again and it was over for us," MHS head boys coach Gary Hill said following the game. MHS played well about mid-way through the second quarter. Their defensive play set up the offense. They cut a 31-16 Bobcat lead to eight at 33-25 when Clark made a tip. Ignacio’s Andre Mattox opened the quarter with a three which put Ignacio up 31-16. The Bobcats led 38-31 at the intermission. "Once we started to get aggressive on the defense, it in turn, allowed us to run our offense," Hill added. The game was tied at 5-5 early in the first quarter. Clint Hill did give Mancos its only lead of the game at 8-7 when he connected on a three-pointer. Ignacio moved out to 15-8 lead and never looked back. Clark drove to the hole but Ignacio led 15-10. The Bobcats then outhustled Mancos on both ends of the court. Mattox scored 8 of his 15 points during the first quarter. Ignacio built a 28-16 lead when the quarter ended. In the fourth quarter, Mancos finally started playing better, at least on the offensive side. Kyle Yeomans hit all 13 of his points during the quarter. Clark continued to play well underneath. He made a nice follow. Mancos on the defensive side, though, seemed timid and were not playing very aggressively in going to the ball. Kelley Smith pumped in 6 of his 12 points during the quarter. The nearly week-long event opened Monday, Dec. 17, and it runs through Saturday, Dec. 22. The only open day was Wednesday night, Dec. 19, and on that night Mancos hosted Montezuma-Cortez High School JVs for a wrestling dual. The varsity basketball Tournament games is being played in the Mancos Performance Center. The junior varsity games is in the Old Gym. Mancos boys and girls will play again Friday and Saturday nights, Dec. 21-22, in the tourney. The Blue Jay girls will play at 5:30 p.m. and the boys to play immediately following (about 7 p.m.). The girls and boys host MCHS JVs on Friday. The girls and boys play Farmington High JVs on Saturday. On Saturday, varsity action begins at 2 p.m. with Durango JV meeting MCHS JV girls, Ignacio plays Cortez JV boys at 3:30 followed by the two MHS games against FHS JVs. The champions, because this is a round-robin format tournament, will be based on overall record. The second criteria for determining the winner will be best overall free throw percentage. MHS boys and girls won the tournament a year ago. In the junior varsity portion of the tournament in the Old Gym, the event has the boys playing the preliminary game and the girls playing in the nightcap all nights. Bayfield C played Durango C in the boys game while Bayfield C tangled with FHS C in the girls’ contest on Monday in the Old Gym. On Tuesday, Mancos JV boys played Ignacio JVs (Navajo Prep JVs were on the schedule but were replaced when the Navajo Prep coach called to say he had too many ineligible players in order to compete, according to Dimmick). The MHS JV girls hosted Durango C. Action resumes today in the JV bracket of the tourney. Durango C takes on Ignacio JVs in the boys’ game while Durango C plays Farmington C in the girls’ battle. On Friday, Mancos JV boys host Bayfield C while Mancos JV girls also play Bayfield C. On Saturday, JV action also begins at 2 p.m. Mancos JV girls host FHS C followed by MHS JV boys taking on Durango C. Durango C plays Bayfield C at 5 p.m. and Ignacio JV play Bayfield C at 6:30. The Blue Jay varsity boys and girls will then take a break for the Christmas-New Year’s holidays. They will resume the 2002 portion of the schedule on Jan. 5 when they visit Ignacio. In aother recent game, Dolores boys dropped a 72-61 decision recently to Durango JVs. Cullen Zion’s 27 points just wasn’t enough. Aeson Reed chipped in 14. Durango led 33-25 at the intermission but fouls and missed opportunities spelled defeat. The scheduled game against Shiprock, N.M., JVs for Dolores boys and girls was postponed.
|
||||
|
Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
