Lady Diggers kick off 2010-11 season in convincing fashion

Allyson Huff didn’t play as much as she would’ve liked. Neither did Teri Heffner. Shoot, none of Clear Creek’s starters did in the girls basketball season opener versus Nederland on Dec. 1. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It was, for the most part, an entirely good thing.
The Lady Golddiggers, coming off a 4-16 campaign last season, opened 2010-11 in a way that only many can imagine. Clear Creek scored the game’s first 33 points — yes, 33 — en route to a 54-12 shellacking of the visiting Panthers. The outcome was even a surprise to the Golddiggers themselves.
“A little bit. We were coming out ready to go hard,” said Huff, a sophomore guard/forward, who scored a game-high 12 points — all in Clear Creek’s 31-point first quarter.
“We played well. We hadn’t played them in a while so we didn’t know what to expect from them and their situation. They’re young. …. From our end it was a little surprising,” Clear Creek head coach Mark Ackerman said.
Nederland, which went 14-9 in 2009-10, dressed just nine players, including five freshmen. The Panthers don’t even have a junior varsity squad. And making matters worse for Nederland, its top returning scorer, Kayla Bucholtz, didn’t play because of an injury. By the looks of how things turned out her absence probably didn’t matter all that much.
The Panthers didn’t score until Wynter Kasch drove the baseline for the first of her two baskets with 4 minutes, 48 seconds left in the half. It brought the score to 33-2 in a game that Clear Creek eventually led by 47 early in the third quarter.
Courtney Joyce came off the bench to add 10 points and 11 rebounds, all in the second quarter, while starters Heffner, Sydney Bronson and freshman Haleigh Washington scored eight points each. In all, eight players scored for the Golddiggers, including reserve guard Caitlyn Zmudka, a junior varsity player.
Not everything was perfect for Clear Creek, according to Ackerman, who would’ve liked to have seen better play as a whole and better protection taking care of the ball. But when you can substitute in your junior varsity roster in bunches with 5:26 left in the third quarter and have them play the rest of the game how much can one argue.
“How precious is that?,” Ackerman pondered about getting his JV players varsity playing time.

CLEAR CREEK 54, NEDERLAND 12
NEDERLAND     0-2-4-6—12
CLEAR CREEK    31-14-6-3—54
NEDERLAND: Wynter Kasch 2 0-2 4; Amanda Cook 0 1-2 1, Cori Jannuzzi 1 0-0 2; Shelby Glammeyer 0 0-0 0; Mackenzie Belden 1 0-0 2; Kelsey Andros 0 1-2 1; Brenda Waggerby 1 0-0 2; Brianna Tester 0 0-0 0; Lillian Haffey 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 5 2-6 12.
CLEAR CREEK: Teri Heffner 4 0-0 8; Sydney Bronson 4 0-0 8; Amber Gallegos 2 1-2 5; Sarah Buss 0 0-0 0; Allyson Huff 6 0-0 12; Denika Spadafora 0 0-0 0; Haleigh Washington 4 0-0 8; Dallys Shaddiz 1 0-0 2; Courtney Joyce 5 0-0 10; Shianne Smith 0 0-0 0; Caitlyn Zmudka 0 1-2 1; Amber Vieweg 0 0-0 0; Angela Gerton 0 0-0 0; Samantha Dash 0 0-0 0; Jordan App 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 2-4 54.
3-POINTERS: None; FOULED OUT: Nederland: Nash; TECHNICAL FOULS: None