The girls high school basketball regular season comes to a close this week.
Mancos is definitely feeling the affects of a long year. The Lady Bluejays right now dont have much left in the tank.
Three of five starters were out last Friday and Saturday at Ignacio and at home versus Ridgway. Both games were blowout losses for Mancos, as it fell 67-40 and 46-20.
Were definitely shorthanded, Lady Bluejays coach Craig Paschal said. Our offense just wasnt flowing very well with new people in there. We did compete. We did what we could. The biggest thing for us, we just got to get healthy. If we have five starters out there, that will be good.
Devin Kroeker was out with concussion like symptoms and Brandy Bundy was on the Mancos bench with a knee injury. Megan Hess was absent on personal leave for the Lady Bluejays (4-12, 3-8 2A/1A San Juan Basin League). For first-place (in 2A) Ridgway (14-4, 11-2 SJBL), it was a business trip. The Lady Demons led from start to finish and used strong defensive pressure to pull away.
Mancos kept up the defensive effort on its end, but just could not find an offensive rhythm.
Even though they put up 46, were fairly decent defensively, Paschal said. It was kind of the turnovers left and right, which led to all of the easy baskets (for Ridgway) more than anything.
Rane Dickerson, Bailey Kersen and Candace Yengst were the road leaders Saturday night for Ridgway.
Kayla Goff and Andie Paschal saw major minutes in place of the injured Mancos starters. The junior and freshman combined for seven points.
Lady Bluejays senior leaders Jacey Cox and Erica Blackburn did some damage inside and out. Cox had a strong game in the paint with six points and eight rebounds.
Its hard to play with new people, Cox said. Were not playing with each other as much as were used to playing with. But they (young players) stepped up really well. They always do.
Mancos will try and heal up by Friday and Saturday with games at Telluride and at home versus Norwood at 6 and 5 p.m.
Were just going to work on improving, Cox said about the final week of the regular season. Well work on our offense, still. Were just trying to be better than we were the week before. We just try to play as hard as we can.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.
