View photo/Mike Griffin West's Lerea Mares looks to pass against Alamosa.

West rally comes up short

Tough battle against South leaves Cyclones in second place

By MIKE GRIFFIN
The Pueblo West View

The initial disappointment was obvious, as the Cyclones walked off the court with a loss in a game they could have won.

But in reality, the Pueblo West High School girls basketball team is very much on track.

"Now that they've shown me what they can do, they better keep doing it," coach Mike Wilkinson said Friday after the Cyclones fell, 48-43, to Pueblo South - the No. 3-ranked team in Colorado.

West led early and late before falling apart down the stretch against the Colts. But the loss left West at 5-1 in the South-Central League, alone in second place in the standings behind South and ahead of County, East and Centennial.

While Wilkinson was worried before the season about his team's ability to play consistently, the Cyclones got off to a great start with five straight wins culminating in last Tuesday's 48-39 victory over Alamosa.

View photos/Mike Griffin Pueblo West guard DeeAnna Arrieta handles the ball against Pueblo South.

They went to South's gym Friday with a chance to unseat the state's third-ranked team and seize control of the league standings.

And for a while, it looked likely.

Meranda Encinias led a determined attack early, scoring eight points in the first quarter. With Kelsea Androes, Stephanie Cowden and freshman DeeAnna Arrieta also scoring early buckets, West took a 14-10 lead late in the first quarter.

But the Colts, behind sophomore guard Brittney Kliesen, began exploiting the Cyclones' aggressive press defense.

South repeatedly launched long passes to break West's press in the second quarter, scoring too many easy buckets on the way to a 20-6 run. Kliesen scored 15 first-half points, and the Colts took a 30-20 lead into the break.

"That second quarter is where we lost the game," Wilkinson said.

Early in the third quarter, Encinias made it look like the Cyclones could overcome the first-half funk. On West's first possession of the third quarter, she drove the lane and scored with her left hand and drew a foul in the process.

The senior point guard pumped her fist, then stepped to the line and hit the free throw. Moments later, when Kortney Sorensen and Arrieta hit back-to-back 3-pointers, South's lead was cut to three at 32-29.

Kelsea Androes tries to protect the ball against Alamosa.

With 2:41 left in the third, Cowden hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 34-34. Encinias scored four more points in the closing seconds of the third, and the Cyclones took a 38-36 lead into the fourth quarter.

When Androes grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up and in, the Cyclones took their final lead of the night at 43-42 with 4:26 left in the game.

Then they blinked.

West committed turnovers on three consecutive possessions, and South came up with two blocked shots in the final two minutes. The Colts scored the game's final six points for a 48-43 win.

"We just lost our poise there at the end," Wilkinson said. "We have to be consistent for 32 minutes. We can't have that bad second quarter. We don't have to play great for 32 minutes, but we have to be solid." After scratching out a gritty 15 points, Encinias fouled out in the game's final minutes and was obviously distraught at coming up short. The team went to the locker room in a foul temper after letting the game slip away.

But Wilkinson later acknowledged that the first half of the league schedule has gone well and he was feeling good about his team after giving South such a good game in the Colts' gym.

West's Pisay Suzuki looks for an opening in the South defense.

Sorensen played terrific defense on S-CL leading scorer Kalli Kemmling in the first half, but Kliesen's performance offset the effort. In crunch time, Kemmling found her groove - coming up with seven points and a blocked shot in the fourth quarter.

West was scheduled to play East on Tuesday, too late to be reported in this week's View. When the Cyclones travel to Canon City on Friday, they will begin the second the second round of league play with seven games remaining to try to catch South and earn a good seed for the state tournament.

Against Alamosa last Tuesday, the Cyclones used stifling defense to shut the Moose down on the way to a 27-8 halftime lead. Encinias led the way with 10 points and Cowden added nine as the Cyclones held on for a 48-39 win.

Pueblo South 48, Pueblo West 43

West 14 6 18 5 - 43
South 12 18 6 12 - 48

West: Encinias 15, Cowden 7, Arrieta 7, Sorensen 4, Androes 4, Suzuki 4, Bogenschuetz 2.

Pueblo West 48, Alamosa 39

Alamosa 5 3 17 14 - 39
P. West 14 13 8 13 - 48

West: Encinias 10, Cowden 9, Suzuki 5, Arrieta 5, Androes 4, Miller 4, Sorensen 4, Bogenschuetz 4, Mares 3.sked

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