Fossil Ridge begins their city tour with a victory as they beat the Fort Collins Lambkins 50-32 in their 15th straight win over the cross-town rivals.

The Sabercats started off on an 8-2 run with points coming from four separate players to get the early lead. However, the Lambkins bounced back with an 11 point run of their own as Fossil fell behind by five.

The momentum swung back the way of the Sabercats with a 10-0 push to jump ahead 18-13 at halftime. Fossil Ridge continued to push the pace in the second half, dominating on both ends of the floor to beat Fort Collins by double digits. Sophomore sixth man Ava Hurlbut is a big part of the transition game, helping space the floor to create easy scoring opportunities. She spoke on the team’s consistent ability to come out strong during the second half. 

“It was all about the energy,” Hurlbut says. “Us wanting to win really helped a lot…we just had to adjust our play style.”

These city games always mean so much more to the athletes as they often play with one another during club season. For example, Hurlbut used to play on a club team alongside fellow sophomore and Lambkins sharpshooter Avery Alcatraz.

“We know all the girls on the Fort Collins team, it made us want to win even more,” Hurlbut says.

Hurlbut has turned into a major contributor for the Sabercats, racking up more and more minutes despite still only being a sophomore. This comes in large part to her excellent defense, as she hustles up and down the court to maintain good positioning and help contribute to Fossil’s impressive 43 points allowed per game.

With this extra experience on varsity it has taught her plenty of lessons about the mindset necessary to play at the varsity level.

“Making sure you’re not hanging your head, staying positive even when you make mistakes,” Hurlbut says. 

This win was a massive bounce back after the team’s close road loss to Berthoud 54-51. It also helped push Fossil up in the projected playoff seeding up to number 23. The Sabercats hope to crawl their way into the top 16 to secure a home playoff game in the first round. They will have plenty of opportunities to improve their seeding, with four of their last six games taking place against project playoff teams. This includes their next game this Friday against #22 Horizon High School on the road. 

“We have to keep practicing hard and watching film so we’re prepared for anything,” Hurlbut says.