Senior guard Chano Gonzalez got Glenwood off to a hot start by scoring his team’s first eight points of the night, and the Demons used a 35-28 halftime advantage to ease past the Battle Mountain Huskies by a 66-54 score on Friday night at home.
Battling the size advantage of the Huskies near the basket, the Demons were limited to one shot on many of their offensive possessions, but Glenwood used its own solid low post defense to keep the Huskies at bay near the basket. Glenwood’s Mitchell Burt and John Iuele managed to score first quarter buckets, adding to Gonzalez’s total, as the Demons would take a narrow 12-11 lead.
Seniors Angel Garcia, Wyatt Ewer, and Erwin Rodriguez would help to fuel Glenwood’s big 23-point second quarter. Garcia and Rodriguez hit 3-pointers and Ewer notched baskets inside and outside on the perimeter to stake the Demons to the lead at intermission.
To open the second half, Glenwood stretched its lead to 42-32, forcing a Battle Mountain timeout. The lightning-quick Demons got scores from Garcia, Gonzalez, and junior William Narvaez as the Huskies were beginning to have trouble with the pace of play.
“When we get going, we seem to feed off of each other,” said Garcia, speaking of playing with his backcourt mate Gonzalez. “And we know the team feeds off of us.”
A breakaway layup by Garcia and a put back by Burt would up the Glenwood lead to 48-34 as the third quarter wound to a close as did the Huskies hopes of a road conference victory.
Garcia with 25 points, and Gonzalez with 16 points led the way for the Demons.
Glenwood (12-4, 5-0 WSL), will put its nine-game winning streak on the line this afternoon when they will host Palisade, as conference play continues.
“We’re just going to keep using what we have ability wise and athletically. We’ll keep the pressure on teams and take advantage of opportunities in transition,” said Glenwood Head Coach Fred Heisel.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Battle Mountain 55, Glenwood Springs 44
In a contest featuring the two unbeaten teams in the 4A Western Slope League, Battle Mountain rode a big second half wave of momentum to outlast the Glenwood girls by a 55-44 count on Friday night inside Chavez Spencer Gymnasium.
As she so often does, senior guard Emily Worline opened the game for Glenwood with a 3-pointer to get the Demons on the board first. Battle Mountain countered though with inside scores from Claire Krueger and Eleanor Sheahan to take an early 4-3 lead.
Demon senior Ximena Gutierrez would hit a 3-pointer, and Worline would follow that with an NBA range triple to give Glenwood a 10-7 advantage at the end of one period.
Battle Mountain’s decision to leave the hot-handed Worline open from the 3-point line would eventually prove to be pivotal, but not irreversible. Though the Demons halftime lead was a scant 22-20, Worline’s five first half 3-pointers would provide a major obstacle for the Huskies to overcome.
After Worline hit two more treys to open the third quarter for the Demons, Battle Mountain’s Gabriela Caballero hit a matching 3-pointer to help the Huskies keep the pace. Junior post Qwynn Massie scored inside the paint for Glenwood to make the contest a 30-28 affair in favor of the Demons at the 3:41 mark.
Krueger put the Huskies on top at 32-30 with two free throws and Caballero hit a 3-pointer to widen the Battle Mountain lead as the third period expired. The Huskies outscored Glenwood 15-8 in the frame.
Enter Worline again with her eighth long ball of the night as Glenwood crept within 35-33. Husky guards Alden Pennington and Ariana Lopez scored to widen Battle Mountain’s margin, but it was Worline and Gutierrez hitting 3-pointers for Glenwood as the Demons crept within 41-39 with 4:45 to play.
Junior Michelle Marshall scored underneath to complete a Demon comeback with the score now knotted at 41-all.
A Caballero 3-pointer, her fourth of the night, would give Battle Mountain a 49-44 lead with 47.1 left on the clock, prompting Glenwood Head Coach Rhonda Moser to call timeout to plot one last charge at the Huskies.
A contested 3-pointer by Worline was off the mark though, and the Huskies would knock down all of their free throws in the waning moments of the game as the Demons were forced to foul.
“What matters most now is how we respond to this,” said Moser. “We knew we had a target on our back coming into league play. We missed some shots tonight and we had some opportunities. We just have to regroup.”
Worline’s 27 points on nine 3-pointers paced Glenwood’s scoring. Marshall tallied 7 points, with Gutierrez and Massie each contributing 6 points for the Demons.
Glenwood (8-8, 4-1 WSL) hosts Palisade Saturday afternoon in another key WSL contest.