(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
PUEBLO — Pueblo South fell right into the game plan that Holy Family had set up. But the Colts aren’t the Class 4A CHSAANow.com No. 2 team in the state for no reason.
They overcame a slow pace and a bad shooting night to come away with a 40-29 win on Wednesday night at South High School.
The main difference in the game was a strong third quarter for the Colts (8-1 overall) where they were able to knock four 3-pointers. Three came right in a row, turning a 17-16 game into a sudden 26-16 lead for Pueblo South.
“It’s always great when you have a double-team (down low) it’s always good to kick it out to your team and have that nice shot,” Gabi Lucero said.
Lucero logged a double-double for the Colts, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. But it seemed like she was doing much more damage than that.
“She only had 10,” Holy Family coach Ron Rossi asked. “It seemed like more than 10 and it’s hard to defend perimeter as well as inside.”
Maya Austin led all scorers with 12 points, nine of which came from long range. Two of those were in the third quarter when everything started going South’s way.
And that was something that took some time. The Tigers (4-3) came out in a zone press that gave the Colts fits in the first quarter. South was held to three field goals and trailed 10-8 going into the second.
“We didn’t attack (the zone),” Colts coach Shannan Lane said. “We felt like we were going to come up and be just kind of lazy with it. I don’t think (the girls) realized it was aggressive as it was.”
Lane knew that if she could get the ball in the low post and start attacking the Tigers inside, her team could control of the game.
And that’s what happened.
Six of Lucero’s 10 points came in the second quarter. South regained the lead for good when Austin connected on a 3-pointer with about 20 remaining in the first half.
And even if it wasn’t the way that Lane drew it up, her team was able to keep a grip on the lead and ride it all the way to the final buzzer.
“We didn’t play our tempo and we still won,” she said. “I have to kind of look at it like that. We never really got into the flow of our game. We played their game.”
Luckily for South, the Tigers had one of their worst shooting nights of this young season.
“I don’t understand we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Rossi said. “We’re a good shooting club and it didn’t show today. But that’s basketball.”
The scoring was fairly balanced for Holy Family, but it was Izzy Hren who led the team with eight points.
The Colts will host Windsor on Thursday, which will be the last game before the holiday break. With league play awaiting upon the team’s return in January, Lane knows there are plenty of areas that they can improve on in order to achieve its goal of playing well in March and taking the floor at the Denver Coliseum.
“I do not care about our record right now,” Lane said. “I would rather play good in March. We can be 3-6 right now and it won’t matter as long as we’re playing well in March.”