Huskies girls pull the upset against Glenwood
EDWARDS — Miss. Miss. Miss it.
Glenwood Springs’ Maddie Bolitho actually made the 3-pointer, but time had run out, and Battle Mountain girls basketball came away with a stunning 61-58 victory over the Demons Friday night in Edwards.
And with that, does anyone remember the last time the Huskies’ ladies beat Glenwood? Seriously, we don’t know.
“Me neither,” Huskies coach Paul Stevens said. “That’s a good win for this program. Glenwood, Palisade and Rifle have been the big dogs in this league for a while. To do what we did was encouraging for the rest of our season.”
Battle Mountain (3-5 overall and 1-2 in the 4A Slope) seemingly had things in hand with a 60-54 lead with 20 seconds to go. Yet, the Demons’ Makena Warren hit her third 3 of the fourth quarter to close the lead to 60-57. The Huskies and Demons traded free throws to make it 61-58.
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Battle Mountain’s Jess Sullivan just needed to hold on to the ball with 3 seconds left to seal the win, but passed, setting up Warren’s desperation 3.
“I should have held onto the ball,” Sullivan said. “I thought the clock was stopped. I didn’t know the clock ran.”
No harm. No foul, everyone.
It’s understandable that the Huskies aren’t exactly polished on those situations. The Huskies have been getting drummed by the Demons for years. It’s quite possible that Friday night was the first time the Battle Mountain girls have beaten Glenwood since the school moved up to 4A during the 2000-01 school year.
“I’m so happy,” Sullivan, a senior, said. “I said it in the locker room over and over, ‘I wanted to win the home league opener.’ It’s the last time I could win the home league opener. It’s pretty awesome.”
What the late-game theatrics overshadowed was a good team effort from Battle Mountain. Monique Stevens was all over the place with 24 points including a spectacular 4-point play in the first half. More importantly, she was clutch down the stretch.
Stevens left the game after being fouled with 20 seconds left in the game. While falling, she appeared to hit her head on the floor.
According to coach Stevens, aka Dad, Monique was undergoing a concussion examination after the game.
Sullivan added 15 points for the Huskies. What is scary is that coach Stevens saw a lot of room for offensive improvement.
“We played really well defensively,” he said. “Our defense did a great job. We’ve just got to finish offensively. We are getting good looks and easy shots. We just have to finish.”
Hornug (1,000-plus points) and Demons hang on
Glenwood Springs boys basketball’s Cameron Hornug got the 1,000th point of his high school career with a 3 with 6:07 left in the third quarter on Friday night against Battle Mountain in Edwards.
With that out of the way, someone had to win the game, and Hornug helped the Demons to a 64-54 win over the Huskies with some key buckets down the stretch in the fourth quarter on Friday in Edwards.
“It’s great, but I don’t think it would have been that special if we hadn’t won the game,” said Hornug, who finished with 33 points. “I didn’t know it at the time until my friend Mason (Yellico) told me I had hit it. Then, I knew why everyone was standing.”
Hornug’s 3 gave Glenwood a 40-32 lead in the third quarter, which was a tight affair given that the Demons led 22-5 after the first period. Hornug (14 points in the first quarter) and the Demons took Battle Mountain’s diamond-and-one defense to the woodshed during those first eight minutes.
With the Huskies’ Demetrius Parrish getting to man-guard Hornug, the Huskies rallied to score 24 points in the second quarter to close the Demons’ lead to 35-29 at the half.
Demons coach Corey Hitchcock was clearly not pleased with his team’s defensive effort.
“Battle Mountain started to do good things,” Hitchcock said. “And we stopped boxing out. We let it get away from us for a little bit. But I’m proud of the guys. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win.”
Battle Mountain actually took a 47-44 lead in the fourth quarter before Hornug, naturally had two field goals in a row to give his team the lead for good. (Hornug was also in double digits in rebounds.)
While it was a loss as the Huskies fell to 4-5 and 1-2, Battle Mountain looks to be competitive in the 4A Slope after its comeback.
“I am extremely proud of how we responded. That’s what we emphasized in the postgame,” Huskies coach Phil Tronsrue said. “That’s the level we have to play at all the time. We can’t wait until we’re down by 18 or whatever it was. It can’t be for a six- or eight-minute stretch. We have to start like that at the tip and play 32 minutes.”
Glenwood’s teams host Eagle Valley today, while the Huskies do the Summit County split on Tuesday. The girls are at home at 7 p.m. on Tuesday against the Tigers, while the boys are at Summit at the same time.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.
