The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate basketball team absorbed two highly contested losses Jan. 10 and 14 against opponents from Salida and Durango, bringing their overall record to 5-4 as the squad heads into its first league games of the season.
Against the Salida Spartans on Jan. 10, a seesawing first half left the visiting Lady Pirates trailing 21-18 heading into the third quarter.
“We started pretty slow against Salida,” coach Sarah Osborn wrote in an email to The SUN.
By the start of the fourth, the Spartans led by two — 29-27 — and outscored the Lady Pirates by only three points in the fourth, resulting in a final 41-36 for the 3A hosts.
“We had some late mistakes in the fourth quarter that made it difficult to close it out with a win,” Osborn writes. “We did have some good looks and opportunities to score late in the game that just didn’t fall.”
In that contest, Pagosa’s three seniors led the squad in scoring, with Elizabeth Currier bringing in 13 points, followed by Kylie Ketchum with nine and Karsyn Shahan with eight.
The Lady Pirates’ rebounding effort was led by Shahan, who counted 10 total on the night — four offensive and six defensive. Ximena Garcia followed with four offensive and four defensive, while Currier had five total for the night.
The team shot 64 percent from the free-throw line, and counted 15 turnovers for the night.
“The team fought hard the entire game and never gave up,” wrote Osborn, who added that the tight contest served as good practice for how to close out similar games moving forward.
Four days later hosting the 5A Durango Demons, in a game Osborn called “a battle from the beginning of the tip off,” the Lady Pirates stayed in contention throughout, trailing by one and two points in the first half.
By the end of the third, Durango led 29-23 and limited their hosts to four points in the fourth, ultimately prevailing 34-27.
“We had some opportunities in the fourth again to make it a tied game and just missed the shots,” Osborn wrote, adding, “I saw improvement from Friday to Tuesday. If we continue to focus on fixing our mistakes each game we will be right where we want to be mid season playing our best basketball.”
Stats for the Durango game were not available as of press time Wednesday.
Tuesday’s result leaves the Lady Pirates with a 5-4 overall record and ranked 12th in the 4A Selection and Seeding Index.
Pagosa’s first league game of the season is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday in Monte Vista, which stands at 4-3 and is currently ranked 17th in the 3A Selection and Seeding Index.
Tip-off against 30th-ranked Ignacio, 4-6, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Ignacio.