GLENWOOD SPRINGS(1/24/15) – For good teams, basketball is often a game of adjustments, and the Glenwood boys and girls made all the right ones in improving their combined league record to 14-0 with a sweep of Delta as the second round of WSL play began Saturday.
The first time the Lady Demons (11-2, 7-0 WSL) played Delta, their inability to handle the young Panthers’ press contributed to 31 turnovers and a two-point game going into the 4th quarter. This time, Glenwood passed through and over the press for a multitude of layups, and despite 32 offensive rebounds by the Panthers, the Demons cruised to a 75-55 victory.
For Cam Horning and his Demon teammates, the adjustments in a 61-45 win were more personal. Having been burned for four 3-pointers and 18 points by Horning at Delta, the Panthers switched from a zone to man-to-man defense that the Demons’ top-scorer could solve for only one trey in five attempts and for the first time all season, failed to score in double digits. Held to just seven points, Horning turned distributer with a career-best six assists with Brian Burbidge and Zack Peterson doing most of the scoring damage.
GLENWOOD GIRLS 75, DELTA 55
Jordan DeCrow hit the first of four 3-pointers she’d make in the game, to give Glenwood an early 6-2 lead that twin towers, Hailey Armstrong and Madi Spence, improved to 10-4 with a pair of inside baskets. Then the fun began. After over-passing on two attempts to break Delta’s press, DeCrow found Armstrong and Bella Diaz wide open for layups, then nailed another 3-pointer, and suddenly the Demons were up 17-4. By the end of the quarter, the lead was 25-5, essentially deciding the outcome – and the final point spread.
Delta (6-7, 3-5), starting three sophomores and bringing two more off the bench, made several runs, fueled by an uncanny knack of grabbing their own missed shots for second, and third, opportunities, trimmed the lead to 15 before a shot by Spence put Glenwood up 37-20 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Panthers pulled down 13 offensive rebounds and scored on six of them, getting within 13 points. Jaime Crowley, back on the floor after missing the first six league games with a foot injury, scored twice, pulled down a couple of boards and broke the press with a pass to DeCrow for another layup, and Tatum Peterson scored her first varsity basket to kick the lead back to 19 with 3 minutes left in the period.
Then DeCrow dropped in back-to-back bombs from downtown, and Megan Uran capped a 22-point quarter with another trey for a 59-35 lead cruising into the final quarter. Uren, who started for Crowley and had a career high 14 points in the league opener at Delta in December, reached double figures for the second time this season with 11 for the Demons. DeCrow had a double-double of her own with 18 points and 10 assists, as did Spence (16 and 11) and Armstrong (11 and 10) in points and rebounds.
As they did in Delta, the Panthers, with 5-10 sophomore Emily Baier and 5-8 junior Rachel Heurkamp leading the way, again bested the Demons under the boards, pulling down a phenomenal 52 rebounds to 43 for Glenwood. Delta kept within marginal distance of the Demons by scoring on 13 of their offensive second-chances, but still missed 55 of 79 shots. Sophomore Joyclie Webb, with a pair of 3-pointers, led the visitors with 10 points.
GLENWOOD BOYS 61, DELTA 45
Facing the challenge of 6-5 Eian Baier and 6-6 Cade Gafford, Cory Hitchcock again mixed the Demons’ usual man-to-man defense with the 1-3-1 zone that was so effective against the Panthers in Delta. Baier, who tallied 22 with 15 boards the first time these teams met, was scoreless in the first and Gafford had one of just two baskets Delta scored in falling behind 17-5 in the first quarter as Burbidge hit a trey at the buzzer.
The two Delta seniors had just 6 points at halftime, when Glenwood (10-3, 7-0) led 35-18, with Burbidge leading the Demons with 11 points. Coming off the bench, Peterson and Jake Gentry combined for 10 first-half points to help counter Horning’s lack of offense.
Baier got untracked for a half-dozen points as Delta(6-7, 3-5) closed within 11 midway through the third quarter, but Horning put in a pair of baskets and with Peterson and Will Gray adding 3 apiece, Glenwood ran off the final 9 points of the period to extend its lead to 47-27.
Burbidge led the Demons with 12 points, followed by 11 from Peterson. Gray had 7 points and 7 boards, and Matt Osier tallied 7 in the final quarter, including his first 3-pointer of the season.
Glenwood hosts Summit next Tuesday before traveling to Battle Mountain on Saturday.
Burbidge poured
