By Dan Karpiel

The Surveyor

Alan Gibson was worried. For one day.

The Berthoud High School (BHS) girls basketball coach admitted he was concerned about how his team would respond coming off their first loss of the season – a 66-30 defeat at the hands of No. 3 ranked Holy Family on Jan. 9 – but those concerns became a distant memory when Berthoud took the floor and dispatched Tri-Valley Conference (TVC) rival Roosevelt by 93-57 final Friday night at BHS.

“I’ll tell you what, on Wednesday, there was,” Gibson said when asked if he had any concerns after the loss to Holy Family. “Wednesday was as down as I’ve ever seen this group be and I was really concerned. But it took them one day, just one day, to recover. Yesterday they were there with a new enthusiasm and ready to go and I felt really good going into the game tonight.”

A selfless approach augmented by crisp passing saw Berthoud attack the basket possession after possession for high-percentage shot attempts. When all was said and done, 11 different players contributed to the 93 point scoring frenzy as the Lady Spartans shot a collective 58 percent from inside the arc.

“I think the big difference was our passing game … in this game we decided, after Holy Family, we were going to pass the ball around more and be a totally combined team,” sophomore standout Emily Cavey explained after the game. “Our passing game was phenomenal from everyone; I think we got a lot more passes into the post, our percentages were high, we just executed real well as a team.” Cavey finished the night with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.

Aside from a 13-3 scoring run the visiting Lady ‘Riders assembled in the final three minutes of the opening quarter, Berthoud was in firm control throughout the contest. Roosevelt made a conscious attempt to try to get Berthoud into foul trouble and, early on, found some success. Roosevelt Junior Kaleya Corke was a perfect eight-for-eight from the charity stripe in first period. That, coupled with a pair of treys and an and-one from teammate Elyssa Crespin, saw Roosevelt knot the score at 21-all after the opening eight minutes.

Berthoud adapted by letting off their press on defense and began attacking the basket on offense. The Lady Spartans kept Roosevelt off the board for the first three minutes of the second quarter and did not allow a field goal until just 3:22 remained before halftime. On the offensive end, Berthoud made 14 free throws of their own in the second quarter and added another 17 from the floor to take a comfortable 15-point lead, 52-37, into the locker room at the break.

The Lady Spartans did not let up in the third period as they out-scored their guests 17-12 before really pouring it on the fourth quarter. Junior Logan Davidson scored 10 of her game-high 23 points in the opening four minutes of the final period as Berthoud took a commanding 85-55 lead with just over four minutes left in the game.

“I think it all comes down to being unselfish and having team-oriented players,” Gibson said. “You can’t score that many points if they’re not looking for the open person, if you’re not looking to make sure everyone gets involved and that’s what our girls do.”

The 93 points Berthoud scored is the highest single-game total in more than a decade and, as Cavey admitted, was a great way for the team to bounce-back after the loss three days prior. “It was definitely a coach-led thing, when we came to practice on Wednesday he said, ‘it’s okay to have your heads down but we got to get back on and keep going’ and our last practice yesterday was great, we all just kept our heads up, didn’t focus on the past and just looked to the future.”

Berthoud 65, Frederick 55

Berthoud got the best of Frederick by a 65-55 final in a road tilt Tuesday night. The Lady Spartans trailed for a sizable portion of the game, including by a 31-27 mark at halftime and 44-40 after the third quarter. Berthoud turned it on the final eight minutes, however, out-scoring the Lady Warriors 25-11 to notch their fourth TVC win of the season and improve to 13-1 overall.

Cavey scored a team-high 30 points on the evening, 14 of which came in the decisive fourth quarter while Sydney Meis added another 10, all in the second half. “Another tough road win against a tough, well-coached team,” Gibson said.

Berthoud (13-1, 4-1 TVC), ranked No. 6 in the initial 4A RPI standings, will welcome arch-rival Windsor to the BHS gym on Friday night for their next contest.