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Demons' 1-2 punch knocks out Reds

By Angie Mudd , Special to the Rocky

Published January 16, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Golden's Taylor Stolte grabs a loose ball against Arvada's Valerie Garcia, right, and teammate Emily Wareham on Tuesday night.

Photo by Jacob N. Ware / Special To The Rocky

Golden's Taylor Stolte grabs a loose ball against Arvada's Valerie Garcia, right, and teammate Emily Wareham on Tuesday night.

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The Arvada girls basketball team knew the Golden duo of Cassie Lambrecht and Samantha Neal could provide a vicious 1-2 punch. And after their 74-47 home loss to the Demons on Tuesday, the Reds learned what it felt like to be knocked out.

Lambrecht scored 21 points and Neal scored 19 and each recorded nine assists in leading the Class 4A No. 4-ranked Demons (10-4) to victory, giving the Reds (10-2) only their second loss of the season.

Neal looked like she had been in a boxing match, as she tended to some jammed fingers on her shooting hand throughout the game. But the ice on the fingers didn't cool her shooting game. It only fired her up as she sank five three-pointers.

"She thought she dislocated one of her fingers, and I kept teasing her by telling her that I thought it made her shoot better tonight," Golden coach Jeff Neal said. "We just have some great shooters on this team. With Samantha and Cassie shooting from the outside, it opens up our inside. We just try to be multidimensional, but it is nice when they are hitting their three-pointers."

Neal said while Golden had a huge win against Arvada last season, the Demons knew it would be tougher this year. They also knew they had to contain senior guard Ashley Fanelli and outside shooter Alex Rosales.

"They are quick and they can shoot," Neal said. "But we knew that if we could just get them frazzled, then we knew we would have the game."

Neal sparked Golden to an early lead with two of her three-pointers in the first quarter only to be outdone by Rosales' three three-pointers that kept the Reds in contention. But the second quarter was huge for the Demons as they outscored Arvada 20-5.

"Definitely, when a team isn't hitting their shots, that helps us a lot," Lambrecht said. "But not to take anything away from them, but our defense really stepped up tonight."

Arvada was forced to play most of the game without sophomore Priscilla Garcia, who aggravated her injured knee early in the game. She missed most of the first half and only played less than two minutes in the third.

"Defensively, I think not having her was a huge impact," Arvada coach Erica Schutte said of Garcia, who averages nearly 13 points per game and more than three steals. "Not being able to create the steals and the fast-break layups . . . kind of hurt us."

Golden21 20 17 16 - 74

Arvada15 5 6 21 - 47

G - Ellen Hanggi 0 1-2 1, Cassie Lambrecht 9 1-2 21, Taylor Stolte 5 0-1 10, Katja Jocobs 2 0-0 5, Samantha Neal 5 4-8 19, Emily Wareham 7 2-4 16, Shannon Seery 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 8-17 74.

A - Ashley Fanelli 4 3-8 13, Megan Parsons 1 0-2 2, Krissa Fuentes 0 1-2 1, Alex Rosales 8 0-0 20, Danielle Madonia 1 2-4 4, Valerie Garcia 3 1-3 7. Totals 17 7-19 47.

Three point goals - G, Lambrecht 2, Jocobs 1, Neal 5. A, Fanelli 2, Rosales 4.