Craig Daily Press / Moffat County girls basketball hounds Aspen on defense

Archive for Saturday, January 12, 2013

Photo by Nate Waggenspack. Enlarge photo.

Lisa Camilletti puts up a jumper during Saturday's home game vs. Aspen. Camilletti led Moffat County in scoring with 13 points, and the Bulldogs won 62-19.

By Nate Waggenspack

January 12, 2013

Lisa Camilletti 13 points

Makayla Camilletti 9

Jazmine Swindler 8

Kylee Ellgen 8

Allie Ehlers 7

Tori Snyder 5

Kori Finneman 5

Sassy Murray 3

Brittany Walker 2

Katelyn Peroulis 2

From the opening tip, the Moffat County girls basketball team was all over Aspen.

The Bulldogs used full-court defense, and they forced a host of turnovers by the Skiers to take control early and win, 62-19, on Saturday at MCHS.

Aspen didn’t score until about the midway point of the first quarter and finished the frame down 11-2. The Bulldogs’ aggressive defense during the first half would allow just two more points in the second quarter, as Moffat County took a 27-4 lead into the break.

Senior Sassy Murray, who was playing her first game since the team’s season-opening tournament a month ago, said the Bulldogs thought they could exploit a weakness of Aspen's by applying pressure.

“We always want to go into a game and set the tone, but (this game) we knew they weren’t very strong ball-handlers, so we really wanted to use that to our advantage and get a good start,” Murray said.

At the half, Moffat County coach Matt Ray told his team to keep playing the same way. Ray stressed after the game that it is important to keep playing hard to help prepare for closer games in the future.

“My biggest fear is we play down to their level and we didn’t,” Ray said. “We played at our level the whole game. You can’t back down. Against good teams, if you back down now, you’ll back down then.”

The Bulldogs had their best offensive quarter in the third, putting up 23 points to extend the lead to 50-12. They continuously turned the Skiers over and had 10 players score.

While the win was one Ray expected, he still acknowledged its importance for a team that has a goal to win the Western Slope League.

“You can’t drop one like this,” he said. “That’ll hurt you not only mentally, but also in the standings when you have Olathe and Grand Valley right there with you. These are the sure wins you have to have.”

Murray was just happy to be back on the court.

“I felt good,” she said. “I didn’t play a whole lot but the time I was in I felt like it was alright.”

Nate Waggenspack can be reached at 970-875-1795 or nwaggenspack@craigdailypress.com. Follow Craig Daily Press sports coverage on Twitter at @CDP_Sports.