WINDSOR (2/23/18) – With a 12-3 lead five minutes into the second-round 4A girls playoff game, Glenwood Springs coach Rhonda Moser allowed the thought of advancing to the Sweet Sixteen to surface: “Knowing a 29th seed could play with number four, if we could have put a whole game together…” Moser speculated after turnovers and an 18-7 third quarter led to Windsor’s eventual 54-41 win and the end of the Lady Demons’ six-game win streak and season.
Glenwood played error-free ball for those first five minutes, taking an early lead on Ellie Moser’s 3-pointer, then pounding the ball inside to Tatum Peterson who scored the rest of those 12 points. When Maddie Bolitho fed the 6 ft. senior Peterson for a jumper and that nine point lead, the Wizards (20-4) had made just one basket – a layup for a 2-0 lead – in 13 attempts. Suddenly that changed as the Demons turned the ball over on six of their next eight possessions and Karly Mathern, who averaged about five points a game this season, matched that total in leading Windsor to a 12-12 tie at quarter’s end.
Though the outside shots failed to fall (Glenwood wound up 1-for-11 on treys in the game), Peterson continued to keep the Demons in the game, scoring eight more to total 17 at the half, including 5-of-6 at the line. A put-back by Ally Kennis finally wrested the lead away, 18-16 midway through the second period, and a turnover leading to Hollie Hoffman’s layup put the Wizards up by four.
Bolitho’s only two points of the contest followed at the free throw line, and Ashley Barragan’s offensive rebound and assist to Ximena Gutierrez knotted the score at 22 with 1:38 until halftime. Madi Denzel’s subsequent 3-point play and two free throws by Hoffman overcame four more points from Peterson for a 27-26 Windsor lead at intermission.
“We had a great rhythm the first four minutes, but after they tied it, we got conservative and just couldn’t settle down.” The Demons had 19 turnovers by halftime, more than nine of their last eleven game totals. “Windsor made some great adjustments against Tatum at halftime,” Moser pointed out, as evidenced by the senior, who has signed to play basketball for Nebraska’s Chadron State College next year, only managing to take one more shot the rest of the game; she was 5-for-8 at the half.
In the first three minutes of the second half, Glenwood turned the ball over five times, three trying to get it inside to Peterson, and Windsor went on an 11-2 run, capped by its only 3-pointer of the contest from Hoffman, for a 38-28 lead. The Demons got within seven on Peterson’s only second-half basket and a free throw by Gutierrez midway through the quarter, but wouldn’t score again and were down 45-33 going to the final frame.
The Wizards built the lead to 19 in the fourth, before a late 6-0 flurry, led by Gutierrez, Natalya Taylor, and Emily Worline, all of whom will return next year for Glenwood. “It was great for our juniors and sophomores to be in a game like this,” Moser said.
The coach also had high words of praise for her five seniors, Bolitho, (Ellie) Moser, Saylor Warren, Dani DeCrow, and Peterson, who capped a second straight playoff finish with a 16-9 record, 10-2 for second place in Western Slope League. “I’m super proud of them; their personal growth has been fun to watch, from where we began to where we are now, they developed into competitive basketball players, a top 32 team.”
Peterson led all scorers with 19 points, and 10 rebounds, blocking two shots, finishing with 44 rejections for the season. Gutierrez had 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Bolitho also had 4 steals and 7 assists, ending with 93 for the year.
For two members of the Demons, Moser and sophomore Kate Shanahan, a different kind of season continues as they made the trip to Grand Junction Friday after the game to participate in the Mock Trial regional competition for Glenwood on Saturday.
The 14th-seeded Rifle Lady Bears (22-2, 11-1 WSL), whose only league loss came to Glenwood, 42-34 in the final game before the playoffs, defeated number 19 Discovery Canyon, 45-32 and will travel to 3rd-seeded Air Academy (23-1) February 27 for a Sweet Sixteen game.
