Monument/Dayville beats up on Crane

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, December 12, 2006

DAYVILLE – Sophomore Kyle Hand scored the opening point for the Monument/Dayville Tigers and Gus King added six of the next seven points as the Tigers dominated the game from the opening tip to the ending buzzer winning, 43-18 over the Crane junior varsity team.

Assistant coach Nick Taylor offered some keys to winning for the Tigers, and one in particular stood out.

“We have to score more points than them,” said Taylor.

Very simple and very true. That is exactly what the Tigers did.

The Tigers started off fast and led 17-2 after Hand stole the ball and scored a lay-up at the other end. The Tigers spread the ball around with good passing and Crane had no answer for the balanced attack. Monument/Dayville head coach Cody Cole used the lead as a chance to get his younger players experience and every single player for the Tigers got quality playing time.

The younger players seized the opportunity and harassed the Mustangs into a number of turnovers that they converted into points.

The win was the first of the year for the Tigers boys and gave them a split for the tourney as they lost, 35-50 to Paisley the next day.

While the Paisley loss was tough, coach Cole was supportive of his team.

“In the Paisley game,” said Cole, “I thought we played the best first half we’ve played all year. We were leading 28-21 at the half, but we just couldn’t keep it up. I don’t know whether it was youth or just conditioning, but we didn’t play as well the second half.”

Senior Josh Ewings and Hand were happy to get the first win of the season over Crane.

“We played as a team,” said Ewings. “It was just great to get that win.”

“We passed the ball a lot better than we have before,” said Hand.

While the boys were celebrating their first win of the season the Monument/Dayville girls put together back-to-back wins over the Crane JV team at the Tourney.

On Dec. 8, the Tigers girls pounded the Mustangs, 71-36 and then handed them another loss the next night, 61-29.

In the first win the Tigers used a tough defense and excellent passing to stifle the Mustangs. Once the Tigers hit their groove, they were off and running and never looked back.

The scoring in the first matchup was led by junior Elizabeth Inscore who racked up 17 points and Amanda King posted a respectable 13 points. Madi Ansapch led the Tigers on Dec. 9 as she poured in 15 points and led the Tigers in assists both games.

After the dust settled, the Tigers girls added two more wins to their season total to give them a 4-1 record.

The head coach for the Tiger sgirls, Maurice Thorne, was happy with the way his girls attacked the game.

“I was very pleased with the way we played,” said Thorne. “We have a ways to go, but we’re improving all the time.”

Amanda King was happy about the first win over the Mustangs.

“Our passing was really good,” said King “I think we passed the ball the best we have all year.”

Inscore agreed with King’s assessment of the game.

“We passed a lot better the second half,” said Inscore. “We played more as a team. We hustled and everyone participated tonight.”

Inscore started the game with two quick assists and was pleased with her individual performance for the game.

“I think I had a lot better passing,” said Inscore, “and I didn’t turn the ball over as much as I did the last game so that’s a plus.”

The next challenge for both the boys and the girls will be a trip to Prairie City to take on the Panthers Dec.12, at 6 p.m.