Lady Bulldogs get one win, one loss

By Matt Harris

Staff writer

1-30-2020

GUNNISON—The Lady Bulldogs had yet another week of biting one and getting bit by another.

The Gunnison Valley girls’ basketball team posted a tenacious win over Monticello, 47-38, but fell short in a low-scoring affair, 29-28, against Altamont last week. The two results continued a trend this season where Gunnison is 7-0 when scoring 40 points or more, but 1-8 when scoring under that amount.

“I will give Altamont credit for taking us out of our offensive rhythm and forcing us to take bad shots in the first half,” Coach Melissa Sorensen said. “We adjusted at halftime and got better shots the second half. However, the difference in that game was from the free throw line. Once again, we gave a team too many opportunities from the foul line.”

Altamont had 17 free throw attempts and made nine of them.

Against Monticello, Gunnison was able to play a steady and efficient game, never giving up the lead from quarter to quarter. Senior Rian Christensen had a milestone game in that she not only led the team in scoring with 16 points, but also had a career high as a Lady Bulldog and reached 100 career points with Gunnison, according to Deseret News statistics.

“Rian had a fantastic scoring game against Monticello,” Sorensen said, “however, she has had other amazing games for us this season, even without being the leading scorer. She has been a great, consistent defender and has really taken care of the basketball with few turnovers. She is one of our leaders that many other players follow. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was her best game, although she was on fire, because she has been doing so many things each game that stats do not show. She is having a great season.”

Sophomore Kennedi Knudsen also chipped in 10 points against Monticello.

Against Altamont, Gunnison faced offensive dearth that made an 8-point halftime deficit seem like a much further reach. Nevertheless, the Lady Bulldogs trudged back and played stuffy defense in the third, holding Altamont to only 3 points and drawing back within two.

In the end, they just couldn’t get quite past the Lady Longhorns and dropped to 8-8 on the season. Christensen and senior Berkley Peterson split the bill with 6 points apiece to lead the team.

Gunnison hosted their final regular-season home game last Tuesday against North Sevier, and their last four games will be on the road. They play Waterford tonight at 6 p.m. and Duchesne tomorrow night at 7 p.m.