Ouray County Editor

The Norwood High School boys' and girls' basketball programs will play host to their long-standing annual Great Norwood Shootout today and Saturday.

"It's been around since the early 1970s on this weekend," Norwood athletics director Keith Williams said. "Over the years it's evolved. It's always been really competitive. We give out good awards with five all-tournament (selections), (an) MVP and (a) best defender award."

Accompanying Norwood in this year's event will be squads from De Beque, Ouray and Telluride.

A much-anticipated showdown will be between Ouray and Telluride to open boys' play at 5 p.m. today. De Beque will play Norwood in the nightcap at 8 p.m. The consolation and championship games will be held at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, respectively.

The Ouray-Telluride semifinal will be a rematch of the championship game from the fourth-annual Peak Performance Tournament on Dec. 2 at Ouray.

Ouray held a 53-52 lead with just over two minutes to go, but Telluride rallied for a 60-55 victory.

"It's going to be a different game and a different test," Ouray coach Carl Addison said of tonight's match up. "For (Telluride) coach (Mike) Hughes, that was a great win. He's got that program looking pretty good."

The Miners enter the tournament with a 2-0 record. Hughes is a little anxious about facing Ouray in back-to-back games.

"Getting a rematch, that behooves the team that lost," he said. "They have more motivation coming in. Hopefully that won't be the case. It was a great game Saturday night and we battled back and forth. We were lucky to catch a break more than Ouray did."

The Miners are led by point guard Michael Matthews, who as a freshman a year ago averaged 23 points per game.

The 6-0 sophomore lit-up Ouray for 29 points last weekend – which included scoring the final eight points of the game to seal the Miners' victory.

"It's nice to have a point guard that can direct traffic," Hughes said. "It's hard for him as a sophomore to take on the full brunt of the leadership role. He's a dynamic scorer and is just the complete package."

Matthews is averaging 26 points per game.

Telluride's other victory came over Durango's junior varsity, 63-42, on Dec. 1.

Ouray will bring a 1-1 record to Norwood, with the victory coming over Crested Butte, 44-33, in opening-round play of the Trojans' tourney Dec. 1.

The Trojans are led by junior guards Jimmy Ficco, Cody Geist and Teddy Sirotek. Geist had a team-high 17 points in the loss to Telluride.

Addison said his team must find discipline on offense.

"It was stagnant at times (against Telluride)," he said. "When we run our offense, we're fine, but when we try to create for ourselves, then we're not fine."

Ouray remains without standout Harley Hollenbeck, a 6-foot-4 senior center who's still recovering from torn ligaments in a foot.

Norwood enters the tournament at 0-3 after finishing fourth at the Ridgway Tournament on Dec. 1-2.

The Mavericks are inexperienced as their roster includes only one senior, Brant White (6-0), two juniors, three sophomores and three freshman. Zachary Andrews, a 5-8 freshman, is the point guard.

Missing from the Mavericks' line up due to injury has been junior Jesse Efurd, who injured his back during the football season and has yet to be cleared to play by a physician, according to Williams.

For De Beque, a 1A Mountain League-foe of Ouray, the Norwood Shootout is the Dragons' first road event of the season.

Ouray Girls to Face Telluride – Again

Ouray will be looking to make it two wins in a row over Telluride as the two teams will meet in semifinal action at 3:30 p.m. today. De Beque and Norwood will play at 6:30 p.m. today.

The consolation and championship rounds are slated for 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively, on Saturday.

Ouray handed Telluride a 47-40 loss in the title game of the Peak Performance Tournament on Dec. 2.

"I think everybody is excited to play them again," Ouray coach Claudia Rebne said. "Sometimes that just happens. It all depends on how these tournaments work out."

Senior forward Erica Ficco (5-10) is Ouray's leading scorer at 18 points per game. She's also averaging 12 rebounds.

Ficco scored a season-high 19 points – and grabbed 14 rebounds – in the Trojans' win over Telluride six days ago. Teammates Alex Durham, a 5-8 junior, is the team's second-leading scorer at 7 points per game.

Despite an undefeated mark and having beaten Telluride once, Rebne said there's work yet to be done.

"There's always room for improvement," she said. "For our first couple games of the season, we did a pretty decent job executing our plays, but we still have to get our timing right."

Telluride comes in at 1-1. The Miners beat Durango's junior varsity 42-32 on Dec. 1.

Coach Hughes is optimistic his team can duplicate the incentive the boys had to prevail over Ouray last Saturday.

"I'm hoping we'll be a little more motivated and a little hungrier," he said. "But I think part of it is we're inexperienced."

The Miners also played Ouray short-handed as guards Lisa Eidsmo and Evan Tueller didn't play as they were gone competing in the state cheer competition.

"We'll have Lisa and Evan back this weekend," Hughes said. "We had only seven girls for the season-opener and facing someone as deep as Ouray, they can keep running bodies at you."

Forward Jasmine McDaniels is the Miners' top offense threat. She scored 15 points against Durango and added a game-high 27 points against Ouray.

Norwood comes into the weekend at 2-1 and fresh off a 49-12 victory over host Ridgway on Dec. 2.

The Mavericks have no seniors on a roster of 11 players, but a plethora of juniors with six, which include Aymee Barks, Autumn Barrett, Alyssa Carr, Amber Kennedy, Sam Oliver and Malisha Sutherlin.

De Beque will enter the weekend with a 2-1 record and last saw action in its own tournament on Dec. 2, beating Soroco 43-40. Michelle Porter (13), Jordyn Rienks (12) and Tia Lynch (11) combined for 36 points to lead the Dragons.

Ridgway Squads to Travel to Durango

The Ridgway boys' and girls' basketball coach Charles Jones will lead his Demons to Durango on Saturday to face Durango's "C" teams.

The girls will play at 11 a.m. with the boys to follow at 1 p.m.

The boys enter with a 1-2 mark and the girls 0-3.

"This week we're going to work on the things we didn't do well (last) weekend and keep trying to improve," Jones said.

The programs played host to their annual season-opening tournament Dec. 1-2.

The boys' lone victory is a 37-15 decision over Norwood on Dec. 2.

Jones said the trip to Durango "is a stepping stone for the Plateau Valley Tournament (Dec. 15-16). We're just trying to get better every week."