Demon hoops face tough foes in `big weekend’
The Glenwood Springs boys’ and girls’ basketball teams don’t have to worry about being the envy of any of the other teams in the Western Slope League this week.
Glenwood, which sits fourth in both the boys’ and girls’ standings, played Rifle last week. Tonight the Demons face Steamboat Springs at Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium and Saturday Glenwood travels to Moffat County.
The three back-to-back-to-back opponents represent the top three teams in the WSL in both girls and boys.
“These are big games,” Glenwood boys’ coach Roger Duroux said. “At 2-2, we need to start winning games. It’s a big weekend for us.”
The boys’ and girls’ standings in the Class 4A WSL are identical. Moffat and Rifle are both 4-0 in league play, while Steamboat is 3-1, followed by Glenwood. And Steamboat’s only loss – both boys and girls – was last weekend against Moffat.
The Demon boys and girls are also both coming off losses, but the teams lost in very different fashions. While the girls had a disappointing performance against Rifle last week – falling 52-33 – the boys played about as well as a team can play without coming away with a victory.
Although, the Demon boys lost to Rifle in the final seconds, they did a good job of keeping standout center Ryan Shideler in check with just 14 points.
Glenwood will have another big man to contend with this week in Cameron Burney, who scored 20 points in a Steamboat win over Glenwood early in the season.
Burney averages 12.5 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game for the Sailors.
“It’s the third week in a row we’ve faced somebody with a good inside player and (Steamboat’s) inside player is as good as anybody in the league,” Duroux said.
“The guys know they can play against players bigger than them, so that does help the confidence a little.”
Duroux admits, however, facing top-flight inside talent in consecutive weeks is a double-edged sword. The Steamboat coaching staff has undoubtedly heard how Glenwood defends the big men and will adjust accordingly.
The job of defending the Demon interior will again fall to Andrew Blake and Timon Fish. If they have success, Steamboat has a pair of other players who average double digits in John Daschle (15.2 ppg) and Corey Moore (14.4 ppg).
Glenwood counters from the outside with Sean Flohr, who had 15 points, including four treys, last week against the Bears, but the Sailors and Moffat County will likely key on the sophomore.
“What it’s going to take is someone else stepping up and scoring,” Duroux said.
The Demon girls come into the weekend after a disappointing showing that, according to head coach Deb Henderson, is all related to confidence.
“I think we need to go out and have fun and play like we know how to play,” Henderson said. “
“We have to play with confidence,” she added. “These ladies have got to start believing in themselves.”
Jennifer Weber and Bayli Stillwell lead the Sailor assault, averaging 12.9 and 12.3 points per game, respectively.
Henderson said Glenwood will play primarily a halfcourt defense and concentrate on taking some of the pressure off the guards.
“We’ve been working on different ways of helping the guards,” Henderson said. “The post players want the ball, we’ve just got to find a way to get them the ball.”
Friday’s game in Glenwood starts at 6 p.m. for the girls and 7:30 p.m. for the boys. Saturday’s game at Moffat County has the same start times.

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