Creek dominates in battle of champions

By Neil H. Devlin, Mullen Sports Information Director
4A Mustangs no match for 5A Bruins, fall 58-38. 
 
GREENWOOD VILLAGE -- They got waxed, they didn’t see it coming and there were no excuses.

In a much-anticipated meeting between the past season’s top two Colorado champions, Class 5A Cherry Creek rolled 4A Mullen 58-38 on Wednesday night in the Centennial League. Simply put, the Mustangs didn’t put up much of a fight at Kirby Lyle Gymnasium, appeared way too timid and head coach Frank Cawley didn’t dispute it.

“We passed up some open looks,” he said. “We were expecting our shots to get blocked and the bottom line is, we need to attack the basket and stop dribbling the ball. Our forte is ball movement and we didn’t do it.”

Now 8-4 overall and 2-1 in league, Mullen struggled in most areas, particularly when having the ball. The Mustangs made only seven of their first 34 shots, scored (in order) nine, six and five points over the first three quarters and were never able to shake Cherry Creek’s considerable, smothering defense.

As Mullen regularly missed everything from layups to free throws to 3-pointers, it also had trouble rebounding, defending inside and handling the Bruins (9-1, 3-0) on the perimeter.

And despite holding Bruins senior and Stanford signee Jana Van Gytenbeek, recognized as the state’s best player, generally in check – she had five points through three quarters and ended with seven – the Mustangs managed to get nothing going and were burned by others, including 6-foot-3 Colorado State signee Cali Clark, who led all scorers with 17 points.

Cawley remains upbeat.

“We’ll recover from this,“ he said. “It’s a good lesson. (The Bruins) are a good team. We need to learn how to play teams we’re supposed to lose to. It’s a mental game and we talked about it before the game. Why not us? They’ll get it.”

Junior point guard Megan Pohs, returning from a hamstring injury, topped the Mustangs with eight points. Three others scored six in the team’s second-lowest offensive output of the season.

It happens. The Mustangs ran into a better team and will get a second shot at Cherry Creek on Feb. t at Hutchison Fieldhouse in the league's home-and-away outlay.

“That’s an incredibly talented group,” Cawley said of the Bruins. “They did a great job. Their defense had constant pressure on the ball. And that’s the great thing about this league. In this league, we get a great team every single night.

“One thing about (his Mustangs) I will say is they are incredibly resilient and coachable. And these are the games we do this for.”

Mullen will resume league play on Friday, Jan 17, against Smoky Hill at Hutchison Fieldhouse. 
 
CHERRY CREEK 58, MULLEN 38

Mullen 9 6 5 18 -- 38

Cherry Creek 15 17 14 12 – 58

Mullen – Pohs 3 0-1 8, Martinez 1 0-0 3, Van Horn 2 0-0 5, Perez 2 2-4 6, Gallegos 2 1-2 6, Dominguez 0 1-2 1, Oates-Stamm 0 0-0 0, Elges 0 0-0 0, Freelon 2 2-4 6, Webster 1 0-0 3, Gutierrez 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 6-12 43.

Cherry Creek – Wrede 5 4-5 15, Van Gytenbeek 3 0-0 7, Clark 6 4-4 17, Thompson 1 0-0 3, Kyle 6 0-0 14, Hill 1 0-0 2, Gordon 0 0-0 0, K. Christianson 0 0-0 0, L. Christianson 0 0-0 0, McDavid 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-9 58.

3-pt. goals – Pohs 2, Gallegos, Martinez, Van Horn, Webster; Kyle 2, Clark, Thompson, Van Gytenbeek, Wrede.
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