The No. 7 Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate basketball team fell to the No. 2 Timnath Cubs in the Great 8 round of the 4A girls’ basketball playoffs on Wednesday, March 12.
The girls advanced to the action at the Denver Coliseum after defeating No. 26 Fort Morgan on March 7 and No. 10 Lamar on March 8 at Pagosa Springs High School.
The Timnath Cubs entered the game with a 22-3 record, with the Lady Pirates owning an 18-7 mark going into the matchup.
The two teams had three common opponents on the season: Kent Denver, Holy Family and Montezuma-Cortez. The Cubs went 2-1 on the season against the common opponents, with Pagosa going 3-1.
“I think Timnath is a great match up for us and we are excited to go play on Wednesday morning,” coach Sarah Osborn wrote in an email to The SUN ahead of the game. “We focused on continuing to fine tune our offensive game, and keeping the same intensity in our defense going into Wednesday.”
Unfortunately for the Lady Pirates, they fell out of contention with a 60-38 loss to Timnath.
Stats and more about the game and season were not available by press time Wednesday and will be included in the March 20 SUN.
With the win, Timnath advanced to play the winner of No. 6 Delta and No. 19 Colorado Academy.
The other half of the bracket featured No. 1 University taking on No. 9 D’Evelyn and No. 5 Alamosa taking on No. 4 Holy Family.
The results of the other matchups were not available by press time Wednesday.
The Lady Pirates opened the postseason with a 55-23 win against the Fort Morgan Mustangs on March 7.
The Lady Pirates scored 19 in the game’s first quarter while holding the Mustangs scoreless, and led 32-8 at half.
The Mustangs outscored the Lady Pirates 10-7 in the third quarter, with the Lady Pirates solidifying the 55-23 win with a 16-5 fourth quarter.
Nine Lady Pirates scored in the matchup, led by 18 from Elizabeth Currier, who hit two 3-pointers. She also had three rebounds, four assists and a block.
Karsyn Shahan followed with 12 points, which included a pair of 3-pointers. She also had seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Kylie Ketchum put up nine in the matchup, and had four rebounds, three rebounds and four steals.
Lexi Campbell added six points, four rebounds and two steals.
Kaila Limebrook and Amber Snarr each scored three points. Limebrook also had three rebounds and a steal. Snarr had three rebounds, an assist and two steals.
Charity Domingo added two points, six rebounds, an assist and two steals.
Adelyn Hittle contributed a point, five rebounds and two steals, and Maddie DeClark scored one.
Victoria Currier contributed four rebounds, and Dawson Iverson pulled down one.
The team was 5-for-11 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 13 times.
That win let the team advance to the Sweet 16 round of action the following day, where they took on Lamar, who defeated DSST: Montview on March 7.
Similarly to the day before, the Lady Pirates built an early lead, outscoring the Thunder 12-1 in the first quarter, with that lead increasing to 19-3 by the half.
The teams were even in the third with five points added each, but the Thunder outscored the Lady Pirates 15-7 in the fourth, leaving Pagosa with a 31-23 win to advance to the Great 8.
“Lamar got a spark in the second half and tried to bring it back, but because of our great start the gap was just too big in the end,” Osborn wrote. “Kylie Ketchum also had a great shooting night for us and really helped us seal the win against Lamar.”
Ketchum led the Lady Pirates in scoring in the game with 11, which included a trio of 3-pointers. She also had three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Shahan and Limebrook each scored five. Limebrook also pulled down six rebounds and logged a steal, and Shahan added nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Elizabeth Currier and Hittle each tallied four points. Elizabeth Currier also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Hittle pulled down three rebounds, and had two assists and two steals.
Snarr picked up two points in the game, as well as three rebounds and a steal.
Campbell added four rebounds and a steal.
The team made three of eight attempts from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 14 times.
“I believe against both Fort Morgan and Lamar we came out with an incredible first half especially on the defensive end of the floor,” Osborn wrote. “The team was energetic and ready to go. They made it incredibly tough for both teams to find their rhythm offensively which I think was one of our keys to success against them. They started off by handing Fort Morgan a 19 to 0 first quarter, leaving no doubt in anyone’s minds who came ready to play. In the locker room we talked about how we had to repeat that exact same start and take Lamar out of their game early. The girls came out day two of the tournament and did just that, with a 12 to 1 first quarter start.”
Osborn also notes she’s proud of how the Lady Pirates played in the games, especially after a series of losses.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how hard the team played in both games and fought all the way to the end,” she wrote, adding, “Our team rallied after a series of tough losses close to the end of season, but I think it helped refocus us going into postseason play. We figured out where we needed to improve and the girls put in the work in the last weeks of practice in order to meet their goal of making it back to the state tournament.”
randi@pagosasun.com
