YOUR AD HERE »

Skiers girls get first win

Luke GrahamSteamboat Pilot & Today

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS Aspen girls basketball coach Jeremy Haack couldnt help but smile after Thursdays 42-39 win against Steamboat in the first round of the Steamboat Shootout. After all, it was Haacks first win as a varsity head coach. Im pretty fired up, he said The Skiers wasted little time jumping on the Sailors. After Steamboat scored the first basket of the game, Aspen scored 25 of the next 32 points to take a commanding lead late in the second quarter. I told the girls before the game we need to jump on them quick and see how they react, Haack said. But give Steamboat credit. They fought back and they fought hard. They have a great group of girls. The Sailors showed their resilience by scoring the last seven points of the first half and went into the locker room down 25-16. It was the start, said Sailors coach John Ameen, whose team outscored Aspen 30- 26 from the second quarter on. As the game went on it got better, but the start absolutely killed us. In the third quarter Steamboat chipped away at Aspens lead. The Sailors cut the lead to four when forward Lizzie Stoll rebounded her own freethrow miss, laid the ball in and was fouled. After the free throw, Steamboat trailed, 34-30. The Sailors cut the lead to 40-37 with 4 minutes, 8 seconds left in the fourth quarter on another Stoll layup, but that was as close as the Sailors would get. Reghan Mahaffey added a free throw, and Julia Hassall had a layup with less than 2 minutes to go to put the Skiers on top for good. With 28 seconds to go, Steamboat tried a desperation 3- pointer, but Mahaffey came down with the rebound and ran out the clock. Hassall led all scorers with 22 points, including 15 in the first half. Ashley Ryan added seven and Mahaffey had six for the Skiers. Its just about being smart and taking care of the ball, Haack said. I told them we are only going to take close shots down there because there is no sense in shooting yourself out of the game. The Skiers play Green River, Wyo., at 6:30 p.m. today.The Aspen Times, Aspen, Colo.