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Moffat County girls basketball starts season in style, rolling to 65-17 win over Steamboat Springs

MCHS Junior Jacie Evenson whips a pass past sophomore Kenna Harrison Saturday in a 65-17 win over the Steamboat Springs Sailors. (Max O’Neill / Craig Press)

A 29-2 third quarter outburst paced the host Moffat County Bulldogs’ girls basketball team to a convincing 65-17 win Saturday morning over the visiting Steamboat Springs Sailors.

In the win, the Bulldogs were led by senior Emaleigh Papierski’s 18 points.

This was only the fifth sporting event to be played at MCHS in Season B after fans were allowed in. Which is something that excited parents in attendance, including Keri Hamilton, the mother of junior Halle and wife of head coach Eric.



“Oh that’s always fun yes. We have basketball in our house all day long every day,” Hamilton said. “So now that they finally could get to a game it’s excellent, very much anticipated.”

One of the players who made the jump from junior varsity to varsity for Saturday’s game was freshman Brooke Wheeler. Wheeler contributed an energy boost off the bench for the Bulldogs. The freshman’s father was in the stands watching while her mother was keeping score on the sidelines. They both were excited to get to watch their daughter in action.



“It feels really good. I wish they’d open it all back up,” Jason Wheeler said.

According to head coach Eric Hamilton, the team came into this game with a defensive goal to keep the Sailors under 20 points. The Bulldogs checked that box Saturday, allowing just 17 points.

The Bulldogs went to the line a lot scoring 10 points from the charity stripe on 18 opportunities, for a 55% conversion rate. That was something that encouraged Hamilton.

“Well, we want them to be aggressive and I don’t know what we shot from the free throw line. We didn’t shoot a lot of free throws, but I think our post players did a good job of knowing when to go to the hole and knowing when to kick it out,” Hamilton said. “So, I was real happy with our free throws today.”

This is the team’s fifth consecutive season opening win, which is something that makes the players excited.

“It felt really good to start the season off with such an impressive win, especially since I felt really crisp and I thought our team worked together really well,” Halle Hamilton said.

Moffat County hits the road Thursday, Feb. 4 for a matchup with the Cedaredge Bruins at 5:30 p.m.


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