After the Telluride High School boys and girls varsity basketball teams faced four straight losses at home and away on Friday and Saturday, the weekend's message rang loud and clear to head basketball coach Mike Hughes: "We've got to find a way back to our winning ways," he said, following both teams' back-to-back losses to Dolores and Norwood. "We have to be more consistent."

Telluride's comparatively young teams face an extra challenge having to face off against older, more experienced teams around the league. "We're fighting an uphill battle every time we meet these more experienced teams," said Hughes. "What it means for us is that we have to play a very clean style game, and we can't afford to make very many mistakes. Overall, we're getting better at that with each game."

On Friday, the boys and girls squads traveled to Dolores, where a raucous hometown crowd welcomed the Miners with what many players felt was a less-than-friendly greeting. The Bears devastated the Miner boys in a convincing victory, and despite standout performances from players like Matt Ludwig, the Dolores side "physically just beat us up," coach Hughes said.

The girls played a somewhat tighter match, falling to the Lady Bears 61-40. There was a brief glimmer of hope for the Miners going into the second half, after the Telluride ladies fought for a close, 24-20 lead. Lisa Eidsmo, taking the place of missing starter Genna Kirsh, played tough throughout the match-up, and although support from her teammates Lindsey Chandler, Chelsey Goldsworthy, Margarita DePagter, and Brandy Maleski was in good supply, the team fell out of sync during the second half. In the meantime, Dolores picked up its intensity and managed to pull a 20-point lead out over Telluride in the final half.

Saturday found Telluride's ladies thwarted by the surprisingly tough Norwood Mavericks, who defeated Telluride in Miner territory, 61-33. Led by Chandler, the game's eventual leading basket scorer from Telluride (with 11 points, followed by Goldsworthy with 9), the Miners kept a close eye on the Lady Mavericks in the first period, which ended with Telluride behind by only eight points. Norwood swung into action in the second period, however, scoring a total of 19 points to Telluride's eight. Quarters three and four found Norwood laying down similarly disproportionate scoring to Telluride's, eventually ending the match with Norwood ahead by more than 30 points.

"You have to give credit where credit is due, and Norwood came out on our floor and really played well against our girls," said Hughes. "I was very impressed, however, with the girls on my team who continued to play hard throughout the game."

The boys played a much more competitive game on Saturday, finding their stride against Norwood's physical squad early in the game, but eventually succumbed to the Mavericks, 71-47. At only four points behind the Mavericks at the end of the first period, the Miners began piecing together the makings of a close game. Norwood, however, put the hammer down Telluride's offense in the second period, giving Norwood a 14-point berth to start the second half.

In the third period, lead scorer for Telluride, Michael Matthews (19 points for the game), helped spearhead a Telluride rebound, assisted by fellow scorers Peter Samuelson (10 points total for the game) and Matt Ludwig (9 total points), as well as Grayson Zulauf and John Cannon, who stepped in off the bench to add energy to the Telluride side. Telluride's 16-point reign in period three was closely emulated by Norwood, however, who scored a total of 15 in the third; and by the fourth, Telluride's spark had diminished and Norwood took over, scoring another 17 points to put the Mavericks ahead by more than 20 points to end the game.

Despite last weekend's losses to the Mavericks and the Bears, coach Hughes is looking ahead as Telluride moves into the heart of the basketball season. "We need to re-focus here and get back on track," he said, looking toward home games against Mancos on Friday night and a trip to Dove Creek on Saturday.

The following weekend (Saturday, Feb. 4), THS will celebrate Homecoming, when both girls and boys basketball teams play Nucla in the Miner gymnasium.