The Manitou Springs girls basketball team was hoping to get a fast start to winning Tri-Peaks League games. Instead, the scoring urgency was sluggish and a quick deficit led to a 48-41 loss to La Junta in the season’s first league game.
The Mustangs (3-3 overall, 0-1 Tri-Peaks) found themselves down 10-0 early, which forced them out of their style of play. After Manitou switched to a zone, the La Junta Tigers found their shooting rhythm and knocked down key 3-pointers all night.
Manitou put up 25 3-point shots, but connected on just two, both from Ashlyn Thomson. Off the bench, Bella Coscetti provided a big scoring boost and sparked energy as she battled for offensive rebounds and opportunities at second-chance points.
“I feel like I can come in and try to give everything I have,” Coscetti said. “It gets the energy up and gets things going a little quicker when we’re down.”
The effort in the game’s second half was much better for the Mustangs. Despite being down by a big margin, they battled back to cut the La Junta lead to within 10 — and felt like they had a shot to make a full comeback.
It was a big lesson for the team to learn, especially when considering the slow start and the 10-point head start they gave the Tigers.
“Every minute of our games matter,” coach Jessie Nunley said. “I would’ve said (the La Junta lead would have felt bigger) if we hadn’t come out in the second half playing together and playing like every minute of that second half mattered.”
The Mustangs return to the floor Jan. 7, when they travel to Banning Lewis Academy for the season’s second league game. It will actually be the start of a four-game road trip that will keep them away from Manitou until Jan. 21, when they host Ellicott.
Until then, the girls will work over the break to fix the mistakes they’ve made to this point and try to avoid the slow start that plagued them against the Tigers.
“We have to support our teammates on specific things,” Coscetti said. “We have to get better shots and we need to know our plays; where we need to go and what we need to do.”