In just its second varsity season, Vail Mountain School girls basketball team upsets Battle Mountain in rivalry clash
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily
Izzy Adochio might not have arrived at the Vail Mountain School gym Tuesday night believing her team — in just its second varsity season — could take down Battle Mountain. But when the Ranger senior stood at the free throw line with 36 seconds to go and a chance to all-but ensure an upset win over the 5A school, reality began to sink in.
“I was like ‘I’m focusing on here, now, take my breath,'” Adochio said. “‘Do it for me, do it for my team, do it for VMS’ — because we’ve never won against Battle Mountain.”
The senior sank both shots and her younger sister added one more 26 seconds later to secure a 25-20 victory.
“It’s crazy,” said coach Maggie Crouch, who left her head coaching position at Steamboat Springs to launch the girls team at VMS three years ago. Her squad contested a junior varsity schedule in 2024 and went 5-13 in its first varsity campaign last year.
“It really speaks to the group of girls we have,” Crouch continued. “And how well they mesh and work together and the amount of work they put in.”
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Izzy Kovacik drilled a pair of 3-pointers to help the Huskies jump out to an 8-6 first-quarter lead. Ruth Casey poured in four more in the second quarter as the visitors bumped the advantage up to 12-6 early in the second. Both teams hit a dry spell until Kovacik nailed a 15-footer from the wing with 1:53 left in the half and the Huskies wound up going into the break with a 16-8 lead.
Then, Kiana Garcia came alive.
Vail Mountain’s speedy senior swished a 3-pointer, then stripped the Huskies for a fast-break layup on the next possession. Abby Adochio fed off the tenacity, swiping away a loose ball for a layup of her own before Garcia tied things up with a free-throw. She kissed her next shot off the glass — scoring eight in the quarter to ignite a 12-0 run.
“We just said, we have to want it more than they want it and as we build momentum, you have to take advantage of the momentum,” Crouch said. “They continued to work together as a team. We got a ton of energy from our bench.”
Garcia, who finished with a team-high 14 points, agreed.
“I think it just shows how much we’ve grown and how much we love the sport. You can hear our whole bench screaming and yelling and cheering on each other,” the point guard added. “When we all cheer for each other, it just helps the momentum and we keep pushing. We don’t just play for ourselves – we play for the entire team.”
After getting outscored 14-2 in the third, Battle Mountain’s cold streak continued into the fourth. Kate Kovacik finally broke loose for layup to make it 22-20 with 2:32 remaining, but Casey and Cynthia Orona both missed bunnies that would have tied it a minute a later. Perhaps sensing the potential upset, the Huskies amped up their physicality, pestering Garcia with stingy man-to-man defense.
“I think soccer helps a lot,” Garcia answered when asked how she managed the heat during crunch time. “I get a lot with pushing on my back, so I’m used to a defender next to me, trying to push me, trying to get me off balance. But I just had to keep calm, play my game.”
With 49 seconds to go, Izzy Adochio went to the line with her team leading by two. Huskies head coach Dan Reynolds called for time to ice the shooter. It worked.
After Adochio missed both shots, Izzy Kovacik took the rebound coast-to-coast, only to get forced out of bounds. On the ensuing possession, the Huskies had no choice but to foul Adochio again.
“I missed a few beforehand, so, I was like really just — the key with the stressful moments, coach Maggie just tells us to slow down,” Adochio said. “I think that’s what we were all trying to accomplish in that fourth quarter – just slow down, play smart, keep the ball.”
Battle Mountain falls to 3-5 on the year with the loss. The Huskies head to Steamboat Springs on Thursday. With the victory, Vail Mountain School improved to 5-4 and is now ranked 29th in the 2A CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index.
“This is a huge confidence boost, especially as we go into two very big league games Friday and Saturday,” Crouch said, looking ahead to road games against De Beque and Hayden, respectively. “We are going to look at our defense as a whole and take the positives. We were very strong defensively.”
Reflecting on what’s possible, Izzy Adochio explained her pre-game doubts post-win.
“They’re a 5A team, they’re tough. If we can stick with them, that’s great,” she said of her team’s mindset going into the David versus Goliath matchup. “Of course we want to win, but it was never like that was our main goal. It was play really good basketball. We played our game — we played good defense, we passed, we cut, we worked together, and that was clearly the thing to do.”
