The Lady Jays led by four at one point and appeared poised to make a run, but Ridgway senior Brynne Skalla scored six of her team-high 14 points in the opening frame to give the Demons a 12-10 advantage to start the second.
Mancos settled down in the second quarter and used its pressure to force Ridgway into turnovers to start on a 9-0 run.
“It didn’t work for us in the very beginning,” Mancos head coach Mallory Morgan said of her team’s defense. “And then slowly in the second it started picking up a bit.”
Jessica Gutierrez scored nine points in the second, Nicole Hess scored eight and Ashley Cole – who scored all four of her points in the frame – scored on a backdoor cut in the closing seconds to give the Lady Jays a 33-19 lead at half.
Morgan credited Mancos’ 23-7 second-quarter run to her team’s ability to spread the floor and drive to the basket for easy looks.
“There was zero help defense there,” she said. “They had nobody in there. Either draw two and dish or take them to the hole. Spread the floor a little bit and take them off the dribble.”
And by attacking, even if it didn’t create field goals, the Lady Jays were able to draw fouls and get to the line, where they shot 9-of-11 in the frame.
Junior Brittney Peacock took over as the lead cog in the Jays’ offense in the third quarter after Gutierrez picked up her fourth foul and was sent to the bench.
Peacock scored six straight points for Mancos and then assisted Emily Cole for a bucket to extend the Jays’ lead to 23 points. She added another jumper to complete the team’s third quarter scoring to enter the fourth leading, 48-25.
“Her confidence is going up, which is good, because that’s something that she’s lacked,” Morgan said of Peacock. “I think she’s realizing that she can score. She’s scoring points every game, and is probably my most consistent scorer other than Jess.”
Emma Most scored the only two points for Mancos in the final frame, but after building a comfortable lead, they wouldn’t need any insurance and went on to win, 50-33.
Mancos had three players finish with double-digit point totals: Gutierrez led with 15, Peacock scored 14 and Hess finished with 13. The Jays also got four points from Ashley Cole and two points apiece from Emily Cole and Most.
