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Glenwood sweeps Steamboat on home court

Glenwood sophomore Ximena Gutierrez (32) gets past the defending Steamboat Springs Sailors during Tuesday night's game at Glenwood Springs High School.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent |

With a slight change in the schedule, the Glenwood Springs Demons hosted the Steamboat Springs Sailors Tuesday inside Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium. By swapping a road game for the home game, the Demons were able to sweep the visiting Sailors in a pivotal 4A Western Slope League matchup.

In the girls game, Glenwood picked up a 47-42 win, coming back from down three at the half to pull away in the second half for the win in league play, while the Glenwood boys raced back from an 11-point deficit to start the fourth quarter to pull off the 39-38 win as a Steamboat hoist near midcourt came up just short.

Starting things off on the night in the girls game, Glenwood got off to a hot start, racing out to an 8-0 lead as junior forward Tatum Peterson hit two tough shots in the lane while junior guard Maddie Bolitho and sophomore guard Ximena Gutierrez got runners to fall, forcing an early Steamboat timeout.



Coming out of the quick break, the Sailors got on the board as senior guard Raya Duryea got a runner to fall after an offensive rebound. Bolitho then answered with a layup in transition before Duryea hit back-to-back three-pointers to spark the Sailors, pulling them to within two, 10-8.

Junior forward Dani DeCrow got a layup to fall through contact before missing the and-1 free throw, leading to another bucket from Duryea in transition.



Freshman forward Riley Schott then tied the score on the next possession for Steamboat before junior forward Ellie Moser got a layup to fall in traffic to give Glenwood a tight 14-12 lead after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, Duryea would get a layup to fall to tie the game right away before DeCrow sank two free throws and freshman guard Natalya Taylor got a floater to fall along the baseline to make it 18-14 Glenwood.

Steamboat junior guard Karly Lanning then splashed home a three-pointer from the wing before Schott got a jump hook to fall in the lane, giving Steamboat its first lead of the game, 19-18.

From there the two teams would trade buckets before a tough layup in traffic from Duryea gave the Sailors a 23-20 lead at the half.

“Our effort in the first half was kind of disappointing,” Glenwood Head Coach Rhonda Moser said. “We were super flat, and I told them at the half that they needed to find a way to come out and play basketball in the second half.”

Coming out fired up in the second half, the Lady Demons went to work right away as Peterson hit two buckets in the paint, while Bolitho got a floater in the lane to fall to give Glenwood a 26-23 lead early in the third quarter.

Schott would then hit a layup before senior guard Lauren Howell answered with a three-pointer near the top of the key to stretch Glenwood’s lead to 29-25.

Junior forward Saylor Warren would grab an offensive board on the next possession before finishing with the putback to make it 31-25 before the teams would trade free throws down the stretch in the quarter, giving Glenwood a 33-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

In the final eight minutes of play, the Lady Demons went on a quick 7-0 run as Howell hit her second three-pointer of the game, while Gutierrez and Bolitho got shots to fall, making it 40-31 Glenwood.

Following two free throws and a layup from Peterson that stretched the Glenwood lead to 44-33, Steamboat would go on a quick 8-0 run as Lanning hit her second three-pointer of the game, while Duryea capped off a three-point play in traffic before answering with another layup on the next trip down to close the Glenwood lead to just three, 44-41.

Glenwood was then able to close out the game as Bolitho hit one of two free throws while Howell sealed it for good with two free throws with seconds left, capping off the 47-41 win.

For the Lady Demons, Peterson finished with 16 points, while Bolitho chipped in with nine points. Howell added eight points, while DeCrow added four points in the win, which improved Glenwood to 6-7 (2-2 4A WSL). Warren added two points and had a game-high 16 rebounds, nine of which were offensive boards.

For Steamboat, Duryea finished with a game-high 22 points, while Schott and Lanning added nine and eight points, respectively.

GLENWOOD 39, STEAMBOAT 38

Things looked dire offensively for much of the night for the Glenwood boys basketball team, but a big fourth quarter from sophomore guard Angel Garcia and junior guard Aaron Smith, as a well as a great game from a defensive standpoint from the entire Glenwood team, propelled the Demons to a big 39-38 win over the visiting Sailors Tuesday night inside Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium.

“I keep telling the boys that defense will win us games,” Glenwood Head Coach Cory Hitchcock said. “The boys are starting to see that we can still grind it down and get a win. Doing that tonight gives them a lot of confidence. We’re going to get everyone’s best shot in this league because it’s so wide open, so I’m really proud of the way the boys came out and competed on the defensive and gave ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game because of our defensive performance throughout the entire game.”

Going against a tough box-and-one defense on Smith by the Sailors, Glenwood struggled to get into the lane for much of the night while being forced to settle for jump shots. With things not falling offensively, the Demons went to work on the defensive end, clamping down on the Sailors as a whole, and slowing down the brother tandem of Ethan and Mac Rinicker all night.

Starting things off it seemed like the two teams couldn’t miss in the first quarter as Ethan Rinicker started the game off with a three-pointer before junior guard AJ Crowley would answer with two free throws for Glenwood.

Following two free throws from Steamboat’s McKenyon King, sophomore forward Luke Gair got a tough layup to fall in traffic for the Demons, setting off a chain of events.

Steamboat’s Jake Berry would hit a layup to draw the foul before missing the ensuing free throw to make it 7-4 Sailors, leading to two tough layups in the paint from Mac Rinicker to make it 11-4 Steamboat midway through the quarter.

From there, Glenwood got a layup from senior forward Carlos Nolasco-Montes, two free throws from senior forward Nic Isgrig and a three-point play in the lane from Garcia to tie the game late in the quarter at 11-all.

At the buzzer, Ethan Rinicker was able to rise up with two defenders on him to splash home a three-pointer, giving Steamboat a 14-11 lead after one quarter of play.

Following Rinicker’s heroics, the scoring mostly stopped in the second quarter as the two teams combined for just nine points.

King started the quarter off with a driving layup before Glenwood junior forward Holden Kleager got a hook shot to drop through.

Berry then hit a layup at the other end before a turnaround jumper from Gair and one free throw from Nolasco-Montes sent the two teams into the break with the Sailors nursing an 18-16 lead.

In the second half the scoring continued to slow down for Glenwood as Steamboat heated up, starting the second half on an 13-4 run in the fourth quarter to hold an 11-point lead going into the final eight minutes of play.

“I just told them to be aggressive and take the looks that they were giving us,” Hitchcock said. “I felt like we were trying to force stuff inside that just wasn’t there early in the game, but we did a lot better of a job attacking and finding gaps for shooters in the fourth quarter.”

Down double digits, that’s when the Demons woke up as Crowley started the quarter with a big three-pointer to ignite the home crowd.

After a layup by Steamboat senior forward Charlie Harrington made it 33-23 Sailors, Angel Garcia dialed in from beyond the arc, hitting the first of his two three-pointers in the quarter before Isgrig added two more free throws to make it 33-28 Steamboat midway through the quarter.

Smith then hit a layup before Garcia tied the game at 33-all on a big three-pointer coming off of a screen at the top of the key.

The sophomore would then get a layup to fall in traffic on the next possession before Smith sank two free throws to make it 37-33 Glenwood late in the quarter.

Steamboat wouldn’t go away though as senior forward Jacob Taulman got a layup to fall off of a great pass from Mac Rinicker. Trailing 37-35, Steamboat was forced to foul Smith, where the junior would hit two more free throws to make it 39-35.

A transition three-pointer from Ethan Rinicker added more drama to the game as Glenwood uncharacteristically attempted to inbound the ball despite the game being under five seconds following Rinicker’s three.

On the inbound, Smith was fouled, sending the junior to the line, where he was 4-for-4 in the quarter.

Smith would miss to his left, setting up a three-quarter court heave from Taulman that hit the glass just to the right of the rim, giving Glenwood the 39-38 come-from-behind win over the Sailors in a big 4A Western Slope League battle.

For Glenwood (8-5, 3-1), Garcia led the way with 11 points, while Smith added eight points. Crowley and Gair chipped in with five and four points, respectively.

For Steamboat, Ethan Rinicker finished with 12 points, while Mac Rinicker added 10 points in the loss.


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