In a pair of Saturday matinee games at the Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium, the Glenwood Springs girls and boys teams played host to the Steamboat Springs Sailors in 4A Western Slope League basketball action.

The girls ran their overall record to 9-6 and a spotless 4-0 in the WSL with an easy 57-20 win. The Demons boys (5-10, 2-2 WSL) were not as fortunate, falling to a tall and physical Sailor group by a 61-50 count.

Junior guard Joslyn Spires, who led all scorers in the girls game with 18 points, hit one of her skyscraping 3-pointers to open the second quarter of play, as Glenwood would outscore the Sailors 17-3 in that stanza to take a commanding 33-12 lead at intermission.

Junior post players Mattea Enewold and Tori Taylor also helped fuel the Demon charge with seven and six points, respectively, in the quarter. Senior post Miah Suarez dropped in a basket and made all four of her free throw attempts to post six second quarter points for Glenwood.

The Demons continued their aggressive play in the second half, scoring 13 points in the third period, and with reserve players taking over for much of the final frame, hitting for 11 points to close out the contest.

“This is a great group of kids to coach. I’m proud of how they kept up their tenacity on both ends of the court despite the score,” veteran Glenwood coach Rhonda Moser said. “We’ve been missing some easy shots at times, but we continue to work on things like that in order to keep improving as the season progresses.”

Spires’ 18 points, including three 3-pointers, were tops for the Demons. Enewold finished with 10 points, and Taylor added 9 points.

Moser’s girls played the game in honor of former Glenwood radio announcer and longtime teacher Jack Jabbour, who is battling continued lung complications from COVID-19.

Boys’ 3rd quarter comeback falls short

The Glenwood boys got down big early, trailing 14-7 at the end of the first quarter and 36-24 at halftime, mainly due to a barrage of 3-pointers from the Sailors’ Parker Lindquist and Kellen Adams before ultimately falling by the 11-point final margin.

Glenwood may have been down at the half, but they were very far from being out. Reid Swanson, Bryson McClain, Erick Cordero, Reece McMillan, Edwin Olave and Argeny Renteria all contributed baskets to a potent third quarter offensive power surge which saw the home team outscore the Sailors 16-8 to make it anyone’s game at 44-40 entering the fourth quarter.

It was Steamboat’s Adams who answered the Glenwood run in an emphatic way by dropping in two of his game high five 3-pointers to open the fourth quarter. Steamboat’s scoring streak of 8-0 put the Sailors back up by double digits, and the Demons could never quite recover from the Sailor knockout punch.

“We had a little breakdown in our defense to start the fourth quarter, and they were able to get him (Adams) open,” said Glenwood coach Fred Heisel. “We also gave up too many transition points along the way that didn’t help us, but my team is filled with proud kids. They will come back. They work hard.”

Glenwood’s balanced scoring had Olave at 10 points, Swanson with 9, McClain and Renteria had 8 points, with McMillan scoring 6 points. Adams (20 points) and Lindquist (14 points) topped the Sailors.

Both Glenwood teams will return to the court on Thursday night when they will travel to Edwards to take on the Battle Mountain Huskies in another conference affair.

Roaring Fork boys top Basalt, fall to Delta

Weekend action saw the Roaring Fork boys on the winning side of a nonleague matchup at home against rival Basalt, 60-52, on Friday.

However, the Rams fell 58-48 Saturday afternoon against visiting Delta to drop to 3-8 overall and 0-1 in 3A Western Slope League play.

Against Basalt, the Rams opened a 20-6 lead before the Longhorns chipped away in the second frame. Roaring Fork held on behind the hot hands of senior Mason Smith and junior River Byrne.

In girls action, Roaring Fork fell 50-36 to Basalt and 75-19 to Delta to drop to 3-9 overall and 0-1 in league.

Other recent scores: Boys — Grand Valley 66, Basalt 57; Moffat County 61, Coal Ridge 58; Eagle Valley 68, Rifle 38. Girls — Grand Valley 54, Basalt 30; Moffat County 44, Coal Ridge 31; Rifle 63, Eagle Valley 57; Summit 44, Rifle 34.

Post Independent senior reporter and managing editor John Stroud contributed to this report.