Long mired in mediocrity, the Montezuma-Cortez High School basketball team continues to take small steps forward along the path to success.
Opening last weekend at home against Pagosa Springs on Feb. 13, the Panthers remained competitive with Colorado’s top-ranked Class 3A team throughout a 44-23 loss. M-CHS fell to 6-11 following the defeat, while Pagosa improved to 17-0.
“I was really thrilled with what we did on defense,” said M-CHS head coach John McHenry. “We played really well. Now we just have to maintain it.”
Nicole Demby and Katrina Lee led M-CHS in scoring with six points and Kiselya Plewe added five.
Next facing against Bayfield at home on Feb. 14, M-CHS used efficient offense to score a 56-44 victory in the final game ever at Ron Wright Memorial Gym.
Plewe led the Panthers with 12 points and Lee, Demby and Abri Conklin all scored eight.
“Last time we played Bayfield, we beat them with a full court press, but that’s not our game,” said McHenry. “I wanted to play our game and slow things down and play half court defense. The game started out slow, but after that, we got things rolling.”
The Lady Panthers improved to 7-11 on the season with the win, while Bayfield dropped to 0-16 with the loss.
Next up for M-CHS will be a playoff game away from home against Monte Vista on Feb. 24. With a win, the Lady Panthers would advance to a District Tournament.
“We have ten days to figure out everything that we possibly can about Monte Vista,” said McHenry. “They’ve beaten us twice this year. I keep telling the girls that it’s hard to beat a team three times. We’ll be ready and we’ll see what happens.”