YOUR AD HERE »

Moffat County basketball dogs Gunnison

Boys, girls gain 74-48, 61-21 wins, await Olathe on Friday

Andy Bockelman
Moffat County High School sophomore Bronc Hellander shoots near the close of the boys varsity basketball team's Saturday game against Gunnison. The boys won against the Cowboys, 74-48, while the girls picked up a victory of 61-21.
Andy Bockelman

Another day, another pair of Bulldog wins.

The Moffat County High School varsity basketball teams each added another entry to their W columns Saturday after home games against Gunnison. The boys KO’d the Cowboys, 74-48, following an even greater rout by the Lady Bulldogs, 61-21, against the Gunnison girls.

A swift beginning, an example of the first quarter pressure coach Sam McLeod likes to see from his players, put the girls ahead, 21-6, midway through the opening half, and Moffat County kept at it in the second, allowing a mere four points while taking another 12 of their own to make it 33-10.



Two points from Hunter Lucas was the entirety of Gunnison’s third quarter scoring, while the Bulldogs came out of the locker room to put in 20 in the period, a number that kept MCHS one step ahead even with the 9-8 lead the Cowboys got in the final quarter.

“We did a really good of mixing up a full court press with a 1-2-2 and a 1-2-2 jump man,” McLeod said of his players’ defense.



Kayla Pinnt led scoring with a game-high 14, followed by Morgan Lawton with 13 and Leah Camilletti, 10, to push the girls to 9-4 overall, 7-1 in the 3A Western Slope League.

Following a 60-point win in Aspen on Friday night, McLeod’s full roster was in rotation a great deal, which has been great for all.

“It’s been a complete team performance the last couple nights,” he said.

The hit ’em hard, hit ’em fast approach worked for the Bulldog boys just as well, as the team gained 19 in the first quarter and 23 in the second to keep twice the Cowboys’ tally at halftime, 42-21.

The Bulldogs paced themselves in the second half with a pair of 16-point quarters, though Gunnison’s offensive effort started to pick up in the fourth with 16 of their own.

Dylan Kincade their highest scorer of the day, with 21 points, six for nine at the foul line.

Joe Camilletti and Tyler Davis each netted 12, Matt Hamilton 10 and Denton Taylor 9.

With the win, the Bulldogs are 8-0 in WSL, 10-3 overall, but coach Eric Hamilton said even undefeated in the conference — and that’s a status he intends to keep pristine — the team has yet to peak and the best is yet to come.

“We’re just going to keep improving,” he said, noting that immediate upcoming games are as much on his mind as the postseason.

Moffat County’s next foe will likely mean more to the girls than the boys.

Friday brings the Olathe Pirates to MCHS in what will possibly be the defining game of the regular season for the Lady Bulldogs, taking on the first place team in the league and dethroning them — or at least making them share the glory — if all goes right.

The squad has the benefit of having already seen Olathe earlier in the month, knowing their tactics and now being able to face them at home, Katia Voloshin said. If not for a huge deficit in the opening quarter of their first meeting, the Bulldogs’ side of the scoreboard would have easily outdone the Pirates since they posted bigger numbers in every other segment of the game.

“I don’t know if we were as ready coming out as we were the rest of the quarters, but we’ll be playing all four now,” Voloshin said.

Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com or follow him on Twitter @CDP_Sports.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Craig and Moffat County make the Craig Press’ work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.