No. 24 Montrose girls advance past No. 41 Rifle in 4A tournament
MONTROSE – On a cold and snowy night, the 41st-seeded Rifle Bears (11-13) girls basketball team traveled to face 24th-seed Montrose (12-12) in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
Montrose won 65-35.
“The game was a great kickoff to our playoff season,” Montrose senior Ashley Ortega said. “As usual for us, it began on defense. Each one of us was prepared to play lockdown defense, which allowed us to gain momentum on offense as well. Despite the odds being in our favor, we went on prepared to win. I believe we did just that, executing plays on offense. Our posts especially were able to crash the boards and get put-backs for easy points.”
Starting the postseason off on the right foot, Montrose jumped out to a seven to nothing lead and pushed that lead to 17-3 after the first quarter. The home team led 31-12 at halftime.
The Montrose lead continued to grow was 49-23 after three quarters. At the end of a low-scoring fourth quarter, Montrose had won 65-35.
“What a good win for our team,” Montrose coach Steve Skiff said. “Any time you are able to get a home playoff win, that is exciting. I thought that our starting five did a great job of coming out with a lot of energy and setting the tone early. I was really proud of the entire effort of our team. We are excited about moving on in the playoffs.”
Taylor Yanosky led Montrose with 18 points. Taygan Rocco had 16 and Heather Power had seven.
Jamie Caron led the Bears with 13 points. Lizbeth Gutierrez Lopez had six and Jasmine Quinones had five.
“This team plays really well as a team,” Yanosky said. “We love being out there together and it shows. We share the ball and we are happy for everyone’s success and appreciate everyone’s contribution no matter what it is. We leave it all out on the court. I think the press generates easy buckets which gets our confidence up, which then leads to great looks on offense and finding the bottom of the net.”
Montrose advances to play No 9 D’Evelyn on Friday.
