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Glenwood girls take third in home hoops tournament; Coal Ridge boys top Demons

Mike Vidakovich
Special to the Post Independent
Glenwood Springs’ Andy Heisel dribbles against Montrose in the teams’ game in the Demon Invitational on Dec. 10.
Rich Allen/Post Independent

The Glenwood Springs boys and girls basketball teams were in action this past weekend along with Coal Ridge and Roaring Fork at the annual Demon Invitational Tournament at Glenwood Springs High School.

The Glenwood girls started off play Thursday with a convincing 54-16 win against Denver’s Faith Christian. In Friday night’s semifinal against another Front Range school, Vista Peak Prep, the Lady Demons picked up a turnover virus that lasted the entire first half of play as they fell behind by a 34-11 count at intermission.

The 37 turnovers on the evening allowed Vista Peak to post a 62-45 win over the Demons, despite Glenwood making a valiant comeback effort in the second half of play.



“We have been turning the ball over a lot here early in the season,” said veteran Demon coach Rhonda Moser. “Many of the players are still trying to figure out their role on the team, but as far as taking care of the ball, we just need to learn when to go quick and when to pull back the reins.”

A Friday night bright spot for the Glenwood girls was the play of freshman post Ana Shea. The 6-footer sparkled for the Demons by dropping in 18 points to top the scoring column.



Glenwood Springs’ Sophia Prieto dribbles against Vista Peak in the teams’ game in the Demon Invitational on Dec. 10.
Rich Allen/Post Independent

Saturday morning’s third-place game saw the Demons bounce back to defeat Western Slope rival Montrose 44-35. Determined to make amends for a subpar showing the night before, Glenwood got off to a fast start, taking better care of the basketball and putting Montrose in a 31-23 hole at haltime.

Montrose did make a brief run at Glenwood midway through the third period, cutting the Demon lead to 33-29 and forcing Moser to take a time out.

The stoppage in play was just what the basketball doctor ordered as Glenwood senior forward Kenzie Winder stepped out from beyond the arc and hit a 3-pointer to give the momentum back to the home team.

The Demons (2-3), who will next face Grand Junction on Thursday night in the first round of the Basalt Tournament, had a balanced scoring ledger to help them claim third place tourney honors.

Junior point guard Breauna Sorensen played a steady all-around floor game and led the Demons with 11 points, including hitting seven of eight shots from the charity stripe. Junior post Mattea Enewold contributed seven points, with another pair of juniors, Ruby Patch and Tori Taylor, chipping in with six points each. Winder had five points in the winning effort.

“These kids always play hard and never stop working, but we’re a work in progress. We’re still in the learning stages,” Moser said.

In other girls Demon Invite scores involving local teams, Coal Ridge (6-1 to start the pre-holiday schedule) defeated Moffat County 51-37 and Faith Christian 52-17, and fell to Vista Peak, 67-46.

Roaring Fork defeated Faith Christian 34-22, and fell to Moffat County 64-25 and to Montrose 62-36. The Rams (2-4) have a busy slate to close out the pre-holiday schedule, playing at Grand Junction on Tuesday and Montrose Thursday before teeing up against Palisade and Delta in a weekend tournament.

Boys tournament action

Glenwood Springs’ Bryson McClain goes up for a shot against Montrose in the teams’ game in the Demon Invitational on Dec. 10.
Rich Allen/Post Independent

The boys portion of the Demon Invite featured a round-robin schedule that saw coach Fred Heisel’s Demons drop games to Moffat County 73-57 on Thursday night and Montrose 69-42 on Friday.

Glenwood then squared off with the Coal Ridge Titans in the tournament’s final game on Saturday afternoon.

In a contest that featured two drastic momentum swings, Glenwood squandered a 32-20 halftime lead to remain winless in the three-day tournament, as Coal Ridge outscored the Demons 24-7 in the third period to take a 59-48 victory.

“Andres Mendoza’s hot hand got everyone excited and the rest of the team fed off that,” said Coal Ridge coach Paul Harvey, speaking of his standout junior guard’s play. “We played the way we know we can.”

It was the Demons who initially got the crowd going with their own 22-6 run in the second quarter to stake a big halftime lead. But a cold second half spelled doom for the Demons.

“They came out ready to play in the second half, and we didn’t,” coach Heisel said.

Glenwood (0-6), which was led in scoring by senior guard Reid Swanson with 12 points, all on 3-pointers, will be back in action Thursday night at the Basalt Tournament.

Coal Ridge (3-1) also posted a win over Roaring Fork 52-45 and a loss to Faith Christian 61-46 in the weekend tourney.

Roaring Fork (2-3) suffered losses to Montrose 73-39 and Faith Christian 57-28. The Rams play at Montrose on Thursday, followed by a weekend tournament versus Palisade and Pagosa Springs.

Elsewhere this weekend, Grand Valley played a pre-holiday tournament. The Cardinals boys (4-2) lost to Salida 70-46 on Friday before winning 87-62 over Bayfield. The Lady Cardinals (5-1) defeated Pagosa Springs 41-34 and Buena Vista 47-22.

Post Independent Senior Reporter/Managing Editor John Stroud contributed to this report.


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