The Gunnison High School girls basketball team finished last week 1-2, moving their overall record to 4-8 on the season.
The girls started the week off with a home game against the Salida Spartans on Tuesday, Jan. 13. The Cowboys lost 65-32, suffering their worst defeat of the season at the hands of the Spartans.
“We got blasted,” said head coach Chad Terry after the game. “Salida is a really, really good basketball team, but that’s arguably the worst we’ve played this year.”
The Cowboys were already down 35-12 heading into the locker room for halftime, and by the time the fourth quarter started the girls were down by 36 after being outscored 23-10 in the third quarter.
Ashlyn Cowan led the Cowboys with 14 points in the match. Brooke Terry added five, Autumn Terry had four, Reese Japuntich had three and Kat Rodriguez, Althea Stansberry and Caroline Sudderth each added two to round out the scoring for the Cowboys.
Terry emphasized that even though Salida is a great team, he felt that the Cowboys didn’t come out on fire or play very hard.
The Cowboys were able to reset though, beating Aspen 55-21 at home on Friday, Jan. 16.
“Aspen is kind of struggling this year,” said Terry. “So it was nice to go and get a game where we can kind of be a little bit dominant.”
Despite winning by 34 points, Terry still felt like the girls came out a little flat in the first half of the game. He credited Autumn Terry and Merci Williams for turning the tide for the Cowboys in the third quarter with their ball pressure and overall defense. The Cowboys outscored the Skiers 29-7 in the second half to almost triple their first half lead.
The Cowboys had three players finish in double-figures. Brook Terry led the team with 19 points, Autumn Terry added 13 points and Ashlyn Cowan finished with 11. Kaylee Vincent had six points, Stansberry and Delaney Diamond each had two and Williams and Rodriguez each had one to round out the scoring in the game.
The Cowboys finished out the week with a home matchup against undefeated Meeker on Saturday, Jan. 17. The girls lost 44-34, but Terry thought the girls played really well and certainly gave themselves a chance to win.
Terry said that the girls missed some easy layups down the stretch that proved costly. He was very encouraged with how the girls handled Meeker’s pressure, but too many times they would break Meeker’s press and miss a wide open shot that would lead to Meeker scoring on the other end.
Brooke Terry and Ashlyn Cowan each scored nine to lead the Cowboys. Vincent had five, Rodriguez had four, Stansberry had three, Diamond had two and Sudderth and Autumn Terry each had one point to round out the scoring for the Cowboys in Saturday’s game.
“So I would hope [for] two things,” said Terry about his team after Saturday’s result. “One, they feel a little bit encouraged by us being able to play with a really good team and stick it out, and the other part, to have a little motivation, like we’ve gotta score when we have wide open opportunities.”
After the busy week, the Cowboys have a much lighter week ahead of them with only one game coming on Saturday, Jan. 24, when they travel to Hotchkiss to play North Fork. The Miners are 8-2 on the season and have already beat the Cowboys once this season, but Terry thinks the girls will match up better this time around.
“I think we’re playing a lot better defense now than we were four or five weeks ago when we played them,” said Terry “So I’m excited about that.”
Jack Sellner can be reached at jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com.
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