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Moffat County girls hoops back on fast track with massive win over Gunnison

Moffat County High School's Halle Hamilton heads in for a layup against Gunnison.
Andy Bockelman

With their full varsity roster getting on the floor Friday night and their biggest win margin so far this season, Moffat County High School girls basketball started the 3A Western Slope League schedule in style.

Friday saw the Lady Bulldogs running on all cylinders as they shut down their Gunnison opponents in a 64-14 blowout to improve to 7-3 overall and their first conference W.

Lady Dogs led the entire evening against the struggling Gunnison girls, with points in the paint by Halle Hamilton getting the ball rolling with about 10 seconds off the clock for nine straight points by MoCo before Melita Ferchau sunk a pair of free throws to get on the board for the Cowboys.



MCHS added another nine to finish the first quarter 18-2, but the scoring streak went to 22 well into the second period as a fierce Bulldog defense gave next to no shooting opportunities to Gunnison, the total at 35-4 by halftime.

Though Gunnison got into double digits with 10 points in the third quarter, they were still no match for the 17 more that Lady Dogs accumulated, with a string of half-court steals allowing plentiful fastbreaks.



Another 12 points in the final eight minutes — plus a goose egg for the Lady Cowboys — showed the Moffat County girls weren’t slowing down, but head coach Jim Loughran shook up the bench rotation by working in as many players as possible.

Making their debut on the varsity court in the closing moments were Emma Jones and Sadie Smilanich, to the exultation of the student cheering section.

“It was really fun to be out there for that,” Jones said. “Everyone was really nice with that.”

As the Lady Dogs’ leading scorer throughout the season, Cayden King led the curve once again with 18 points — her best since she put up 21 against Soroco at Meeker’s White River Electric Cowboy Shootout — while Jenna Timmer picked up 12.

Emaleigh Papierski added eight, Amber Salazar six, and Hamilton four, with two apiece for Jacie Evenson, Stephenie Swindler, and Makayla Martinez.

While the majority of Bulldog scoring came from close to the rim, Reese Weber hit the team’s only three-pointers of the night, with two, also earning a pair of inside buckets for her personal best in a 10-point evening.

No one was more surprised than Weber with the outside success.

“I’ve been pretty off lately, so I wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “I feel like it was just a lot of adrenaline, and as soon as I got to the ball I was ready.”

As part of the weekend at home, MCHS girls face Olathe Saturday afternoon.

“I think we just need to keep the energy from tonight and keep that going,” Weber said of the coming games.


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