Eagle Valley girls basketball doubles up rival Battle Mountain to snap 5-game skid
Led by senior Abby Talbot, the Devils pour it on at home
Juan Pena/Pena Digital Images/Courtesy photo
Inside, outside or at the free-throw line, Eagle Valley senior Abby Talbot wouldn’t be denied on Thursday night against rival Battle Mountain at home.
And the Devils, after dropping five straight and coming off a 1-point overtime loss at Summit, poured it on after a tight first quarter, running past the Huskies, 55-26.
“I was really proud of our resilience,” Devils coach Vinny Cisneros said. “The last couple of weeks, this whole month of January has been tough. The losses, they were just gut-punching losses. And it’s tough to be able to keep enthusiasm, keep energy when we’re so close to getting over this hump. Tonight we accomplished that.”
The Devils ran out to a 6-0 lead in the opening minutes before Huskies senior guard Akeliah Hancock started raining 3-pointers to pull her team even. Hancock’s first 3 cut the Devils’ lead in half before Eagle Valley’s Addie Mandeville sunk two free throws. Battle Mountain’s Dakota Kurt then muscled her way to the basket for 2.
The Devils missed a shot on the next possession, and after Hancock crossed half-court with the ball, she pulled up from way beyond the arc to splash a 3 that tied the game at 8 apiece.
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“I wasn’t really expecting to shoot those,” Hancock said. “It was just like, I’m open, so I might as well take the shot.”
The momentum was short-lived. The Devils’ Zakia Shreeve banked home a 3-pointer to answer, and after a sloppy sequence where the Huskies turned over the ball twice and the Devils once, Talbot pulled up for a long 3 that pushed the lead to 6. The Devils closed the first quarter with 13 straight points, which included another 3 from Talbot at the top of the arc and then a tough inside basket.
“I plan on playing in college, so I’ve been working on my 3s and it just felt great to be rewarded with that today,” Talbot said. “This is definitely a turnaround game. We’ve been playing really well, we’ve just been losing. Now we know we can play well and win.”
Cisneros said it was good to see Talbot finally get the lid off the basket from the perimeter.
“We needed her to have a big game. We always need her to have a big game. If she’s not pushing a double-double, then we’re gonna have trouble competing,” he said. “Thankfully, we had a lot of contributions tonight, we try to stay as balanced as we can. Abby had a monster game. 鈥� We know she can shoot. We drew up some plays for her tonight and we executed well.”
The Devils also settled in on defense after Hancock’s early shooting success, shutting down passing lanes and forcing turnovers in both the half-court and, at times, by running a full-court press.
Talbot finished her night midway through the fourth quarter by getting fouled inside on a 2-point play, then sinking the free throw before draining a jumper on the Devils’ ensuing possession to make it 44-23. Both teams emptied their benches in the final minutes to get younger players some valuable minutes.
The Devils earned their first win in the 5A Western Slope to improve to 7-10 overall while Battle Mountain fell to 9-6 and 0-1 in league play. The Huskies face Glenwood Springs at home on Tuesday, while the Devils travel to Glenwood next Thursday.
“All respect to Battle Mountain. We know this rivalry goes back a long way and it was really important for us to get this win,” Cisneros said. “32 minutes is all that we’ve been preaching. Just play 32 minutes, because there’s always an 8-minute stretch or a 2-minute stretch that costs us the game in these close situations. And no lead is safe. We learned that the hard way against Summit. We blew a 14-point lead in a minute and a half, so regardless of what the score was, I just wanted to make sure that we finished.”
