PUEBLO — Stifling fourth-quarter defense and a dominating performance by sophomore Adele Cass was enough to propel Pawnee to a victory over Dove Creek on Thursday in a girls Class 1A quarterfinal game at the Colorado State Fair Events Center.
Entering the fourth quarter tied at 38, the Coyotes held the Bulldogs to four points and pulled away for the win.
“For a while we were kind of helter-skelter and we weren’t talking,” said Cass, who scored a game-high 24 points. “We knew we were going to have to pick up our defense if we were going to win it.”
In other games:
• Briggsdale knocked off the defending state champion and No. 2-ranked McClave Cardinals, .
• Top-seeded Kim, led by Samantha Cure’s 22 points and with an obvious height advantage, had no trouble in a win over Idalia.
• Fleming missed two shots inside of 10 seconds left in the game and lost to Wiley.
Boys
Ouray coach Jim Blennis had a simple game plan for his team when they played Creede: Pressure the ball.
They did.
The Trojans contained the Miners all game, never allowing them to find an offensive rhythm as Ouray ran away in the second half, winning to advance to today’s semifinals.
Tied at 16 in the third quarter, Ouray shook off the offensive rust to go on an 11-0 run to close out the quarter. Junior Chris Cramp scored five of the points on the run.
“Our game plan all along was to pressure the ball, and it started paying off,” Blennis said. “I think our pressure wore them down and they started making turnovers, and we started catching some breaks to open up the game.”
Creede committed 22 turnovers and had four separate streaks in which it turned the ball over at least three straight trips down the floor. During those streaks, the Trojans outscored the Miners 11-0.
In other games:
• Top-seeded Otis (25-0), leading 19-18 at halftime, scored 19 unanswered points in the third quarter before Eads scored and won easily .
• No. 6-seed Ridgway beat No. 3-seed Hi-Plains, .
• Caliche held off Stratton . Corey Stumpf led the Buffaloes with 17 points. Jesse McConnell scored a game-high 23 points to pace Stratton.
