CREEDE— The Lady Miners of Creede ran their winning streak to nine straight games with playoff victories over Crested Butte and Holy Trinity last weekend and came back home Saturday night from Alamosa as District 6 Class 1A champions.

The Ladies won the crown by stopping Crested Butte, a team that had dealt Creede two losses in the regular season, 47-40 Friday at La Jara, and then took the championship game over Holy Trinity 40-27 Saturday at Alamosa High School.

Coaches Aaron Christensen, Kim Fairchild and Craig Franke see the team’s achievement as a result of hard work and growing confidence in the system. “They bought into the concept of defense and team play,” said head coach Christensen. “Especially in the second half of the season, the team believed in itself and our philosophy.”

Defense was certainly the biggest factor in the Miner’s win over Holy Trinity in Saturday’s championship game. Creede held the high scoring Lady Tigers to 27 points, and kept Holy Trinity’s leading scorer and rebounder, Catherine Jimenez, under wraps all evening. Jimenez, who had 30 points in a win over Mountain Valley the night before, had 11 against the Lady Miners. “We did a great job of slowing her down,” Christensen said. “When she got the ball she really had no place to go.”

It took the Lady Miners a quarter to get things going. “We came out of the gate a little uptight and tentative,” Christensen said. “And also we were getting some good looks, and the ball was just not dropping. But in the second quarter we found our rhythm.” After making only one field goal in the first period, the Ladies trailed 9-5. But in the second period they outscored Holy Trinity 12-5 and took a 17-14 lead at the intermission.

The two teams played an even third quarter with eight points each, and then Creede broke the game open in the fourth with a 15-5 margin.

On offense, Creede’s inside game was too much for the Lady Tigers to handle “We had a big advantage in our post play that game,” said Christensen. “We got 24 points from three players.” Hillary Morris, Hannah Goldsberry and Calla Urich combined for that total. Holy Trinity managed only 27 points for the entire game.

Morris finished with 14 points. Goldsberry had 8 to go with some big rebounds.

To get to the championship game, Creede had to get past a Crested Butte team that had beaten them in Creede the second district game of the season back in December and again at Crested Butte by three points Jan. 29. This time, strong defense and good perimeter play got the Miners the win.

“Our guard play was what led the way,” Christensen said. Kelly Lamb, Tesha Brown, Taryn Vinyard and Michelle Franke caused the Lady Titans problems for four quarters. Their ability to take care of the ball and knock down outside shots kept Creede in control.

A big moment in that game came with the score tied at 17-17 late in the second quarter. Vinyard and Brown knocked down consecutive jumpers and when Lamb topped that off with a three pointer Creede suddenly had a 24-17 lead at the half. “Definitely a turning point in the game,” Christensen said.

Lamb had 14 points, Brown 11 and Franke 7 to lead the Ladies.