Cowboys win three in a row, improve to 10-12

The Gunnison High School girls basketball team improved to 10-12 on the season after winning three straight dating back to last Tuesday, Feb. 17.

The Cowboys traveled to Olathe on Tuesday night, beating the Pirates 55-24. The girls only led by one point at half, but blew the game wide open in the third quarter. They outscored the Pirates 23-3 in the third and extended their lead to 31 points in the fourth.

Head coach Chad Terry switched the defensive look on the Pirates coming out of half and that proved to be the difference. The Cowboys held the Pirates to five points in the second half.

Brooke Terry led the team with 13 points. Autumn Terry and Ashlyn Cowan each had 12 points, Kaylee Vincent scored eight points, Merci Williams had three, Althea Stansbery, Delaney Diamond and Kat Rodriguez each scored two points and Jane Barvitski rounded out the scoring with one point.

As a team the girls shot 41 percent from the field, 36 percent from three and 60 percent from the foul line. They also grabbed 26 rebounds, assisted on four of their 21 field goals, finished with 19 steals and turned the ball over 18 times.

The Cowboys traveled to Aspen on Saturday, Feb. 21, for the second of three straight wins. Gunnison won the matchup 48-9 behind great defense once again.

“We pressed a little bit, got lots of steals, and we were hitting shots, and so we actually were able to kind of get a running clock in the second half,” said Terry.

Brooke Terry led the team with 16 points. Cowan added nine, Vincent had seven, Autumn Terry scored six points, Diamond added four, Rodriguez scored three points, Stansberry added two and Williams rounded out the scoring with one point.

The Cowboys third straight win was against the Telluride Miners on Monday, Feb. 23. The matchup between Gunnison and Telluride was a make-up game after the previous two matchups had to be rescheduled.

The Cowboys won the game 54-15, behind another impressive defense effort once again.

“Defensively, we played a really good game and really played several different defenses,” said Terry. “On the offensive side of things, [we] did some nice things as well. The girls played super well.”

Three Cowboys finished the game in double-figures. Brooke Terry, Autumn Terry and Vincnet all scored 10 points each, Cowan added nine, Stansberry had five, Diamond added three, Josie Whinnery, Rodriguez and Williams all scored two points apiece and Caroline Sudderth added one point to round out the scoring.

Monday night was a special night for the Cowboys as the team held their senior night. The Cowboys honored Whinnery, Sudderth, Cowan and Vincent. All four seniors got to start and all four of them scored.

“The girls really in the last three games, even though the competition hasn’t been as stiff, have played really, really well,” said Terry.

The Cowboys are currently ranked No. 28 in 3A and are comfortably in the playoffs with one more regular season matchup coming up. The girls will host Roaring Fork (18-2) at home on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Jack Sellner can be reached at jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com.