COLORADO SPRINGS – A night where two communities came out in support of another in need, Doherty also put together a solid pair of basketball performances. Earlier this month, a movement spearheaded by Colorado Springs District 11 prompted schools from around the Colorado Springs area to donate a game’s gate to the students impacted by December’s Marshall Fire in the Boulder area.
The Doherty girls basketball team beat Rampart 64-29 in the matinée and the boys won 59-38 in the nightcap.
But thanks to the $2,031 raised by the fans in attendance, it was the students at Centaurus and Monarch that were the real winners.
“Probably our biggest gate of the year would’ve been Fountain-Fort Carson but that’s later in the year,” Doherty athletic director and girls basketball coach Stephanie Leasure said. “We wanted to make the impact a little bit sooner. We felt fortunate that we had a supportive community in Rampart that would show up and do a good job with us. We can always trust Rampart with that.”
The Rams girls looked energized early in the game as Emily Huxtable scored the first basket of the game. She came up with a couple of clutch 3-pointers in the second quarter and tied for a team-high 12 points with Kaylee Cambra.
But the Spartans, who entered this week’s Class 5A CHSAANow.com coaches poll, got on a roll early.
Three different players scored four points in the first quarter and the fourth scorer (Tayva Phillips) knocked down a 3-pointer.
“It crucial when we get going that fast,” Gabby Beauparthuy said. “We have so many people who can score and it really helps us settle into the way we want to play.”
Beauparthuy led all scorers in the game with 14 points and that includes going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
The Spartans scored at least 15 points in each quarter but it was the work on the other end of the floor that Leasure was most pleased with.
“After they came out and it was 4-4, we go on this giant scoring spree and still had 6 midway through the second quarter,” she said. “It was really the defense and that’s what we’ve been working on, playing solid defense.”
The boys didn’t have a bad defensive performance themselves. They held Rampart to just 15 just 15 total points in the second half, but struggled at times with their offensive production.
“When we play against zone we get into this 3-point contest and we’re not a good 3-point shooting team,” coach Eric Steinert said. “You have to build a lead maybe inside-out. So I didn’t like it at all.”
But in a way, it worked. The Spartans made eight field goals in the second half and six of them were from beyond the arc. The first 2-point field goal came with 4 minutes, 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Jake Corsi got the run of 3-pointers started by hitting three straight in the third and the Spartans just rode the wave through the course of the game. Corsi finished the game with nine points and Kyle Hayden had a team-high 13.
“If we can get hot, we can do anything,” Corsi said. “Once we get going we’re a tough team to beat. Once we going outside and inside, we’re at our best.”
In some ways they were at their best on Tuesday. They worked well attacking Rampart’s 1-3-1 inside in the first half as James Pulliam scored six points from the block. Then the 3-pointers started falling in the second.
Rampart got another standout performance from sophomore guard Haydn Benoit who had a game-high 16 points.
The Spartans enjoyed a pair of wins, but also kept in mind the bigger reality of the night. Although the Marshall Fire took place nearly a month ago, the devastation is still being felt today which makes the fundraising effort all the more important.
“When you get people together, you can make a lot happen,” Corsi said. “We were able to do a lot for a lot of people tonight.”
