Standley twins stand tall in win over Golden

It was somewhat of a twin dominance Feb. 12 in Standley Lake’s girls basketball game against home standing Golden.

Sophomore twin sisters, Hanna and Hayley Davis, were forceful in helping to lead Standley Lake to a 55-45 victory over Golden. The Gators of coach Lee Gibson Jr. improved to 7-6 in the league and 13-8 overall. Golden, under Shea Scarlett, dropped to 6-15, 2-11.

The disappointment for Golden was also the fact that the team was celebrating Senior Night. With that, the Demons honored its five seniors.

Haley scored 19 points. Hannah only scored five, but was certainly a force on the defensive side for Standley Lake as she blocked numerous shots and hauled down the rebounds.

It was a slow start for both teams, but certainly competitive throughout the game. Standley Lake only led Golden, 10-7, after the first period of play and Golden responded for a 24-23 lead at the half. Making it all the more interesting is that the Gators led 40-39 heading into the final eight minutes of action.

Standley Lake was able to secure a 47-39 lead with 5:02 left in the game and stretch the margin to 50-42 with 2:47 left. From that point, efforts at the free-throw line would help secure the Gators efforts for the win.

“We played pretty good tonight, but so did they,” Haley said. “But we were able to get to the free-throw line and convert. We were also able to get the rebounds and just good enough overall efforts to come through for the win.”

Her sister agreed.

“We kept our heads on and we were able to play as a team,” Hanna said. “They had a tough defense, too. I thought I had a lot of positive energy. I was able to make the good passes, get inside and get the rebounds. But our defense was pretty good, and we were able to hold them off when it counted.”

Gibson was pleased with the effort from his team, but also gave Golden credit for putting up a solid night on its part.

“We played hard and we were able to be up on our rebounding,” Gibson said. “That’s one thing that helped keep us in the game. The girls had to fight hard through adversity as we were facing a good team tonight.

“Golden’s composure hurt our defense at first, but we kept our confidence and were able to play through our mistakes,” continued Gibson. “In the second half we got the breaks. Now, we just want to continue to play hard and see what happens.”

Haley Bass, a 5-5 freshman, displayed her talents leading Golden with 14 points, while senior Emily Sabo came through with 13. Despite falling behind, 8-0, early in the first quarter, the pair, as well as coach Scarlett, felt the Demons had a chance to pull it out. But, they just couldn’t put it together in the late moments.

“They had a lot of free throws and I think we gave them to many opportunities at the line,” Bass said. “I think that both our teams played aggressive, but we just couldn’t get all our shots in. We just don’t want to give up as the season winds down and we want to finish as strong as we can.”

Sabo was in agreement.

“We didn’t play as well at the end as we had in the beginning,” Sabo said. “I was so proud of our seniors and happy for them. We just wanted to get a win for them tonight on a special evening for them and it’s sad that we couldn’t pull it out at the end. We have to stay aggressive the rest of the way and end our season on a positive note.”

And, it’s a positive finish that Scarlett is looking for with his team.

“They played hard and I thought we did, too,” Scarlett said. “I think we gave it a good defensive effort. They shot the free throws and they were able to capitalize on them. As a team, we need to be smarter, just go out and play hard.”

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