It was a good day of basketball for the Craig Middle School eighth-grade girls teams, as they picked up a couple of wins entering into the home stretch of the season.

While it wasn’t always pretty, the A and B teams beat Meeker on Saturday in Craig. With strong defense and quick offensive outbursts, the Bulldogs were able to separate from the Cowboys. In the first game of the day between the eighth-grade B teams, CMS held the Cowboys below double-digit scoring for the entire game, winning 26-8.

The game was much closer early on, but 10 points in the final 4 minutes and 30 seconds helped the Bulldogs pull away for an impressive win.

Following that game, the A team took control against Meeker early but couldn’t pull away. Both teams had trouble holding onto the ball and turned it over against defensive pressure.

But with a 17-10 in the second half, Craig put full-court pressure on and was able to put together a big run off those turnovers. At the end of the third quarter, the lead was 29-15.

“We put the press on and it got them off balance, then we pulled the press and it moved them even more off balance,” head coach Alicia Townsend said. “But there was too much sloppiness in this game. I think we need to get back to our fundamentals.”

The Bulldogs would go on to win, 33-20, on the strength of their third quarter run. Despite the inconsistent play from the team Saturday, Townsend wasn’t all negative about her team, citing their work ethic.

“I’m proud of them for hanging in there,” she said. “They have a lot of heart and they work hard. Sometimes you just have games like this where you don’t come out and play your best.”

With their district tournament approaching in two weeks, the Bulldogs are in the last stretch of their season and are looking to come away with a title. They fell to Rangely in the district championship a year ago, but Townsend likes the way the team has improved and been playing this season.

“We’ve beat teams that we couldn’t beat last year,” she said. “I think they’ve played well and they’re always working hard.”

Contact Nate Waggenspack at 970-875-1795 or nwaggenspack@craigdailypress.com.