Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs High School boys basketball team opened up the 2008-09 season with a 48-34 win against Roaring Fork in the marquee game of the Brenda Patch Tournament.

The win also was the first for new Sailors coach Luke DeWolfe, who took over for former Steamboat coach Kelly Meek.

“It feels good,” DeWolfe said. “But in league play, I’ll get more excited.”

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Although Steamboat struggled on the offensive end for most of the night, the Sailors more than made up for it on the defensive end.

The Steamboat starters held Roaring Fork to a measly 20 points through three quarters.

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“Defensively, we put a lot of ball pressure on them and shut down their guard play,” DeWolfe said. “We kept them from really getting going.”

The Sailors jumped out to a 17-7 first-quarter lead and a 27-14 lead at halftime before really putting the game away in the third quarter.

Senior Nelson Brassell paced the Sailors with 21 points. Charles Wood added 10 points, Jack Spady scored six and Alex Wood chipped in four.

Considering Steamboat has had a limited amount of players for most of the preseason, DeWolfe said the offensive struggles were to be expected.

Because of injuries, the Sailors were without starters Alex and Charles Wood, as well as starting point guard Isiah Forsyth for most of the previous month.

With time, DeWolfe said he expects the offensive play to improve.

“You can tell, offensively, that is where we’re lacking some of the flow,” DeWolfe said. “With more practice and game time that will come. The guys have a good base and feel for each other. It’s a good starting point. We’ll keep getting better as we progress.”

Steamboat continues play at 2:30 p.m. today against Basalt.

Stockdale, Sailors prove too much for Ram girls

Riding the hot hand of Gracie Stockdale and a smothering press to success, Steamboat Springs’ girls rebounded from an early 5-0 hole to knock off Roaring Fork, 57-40, in Friday’s Brenda Patch Tournament.

Stockdale drained a pair of triples and shot 10-of-19 from the floor in a 22-point performance.

“No. 31 killed us,” Roaring Fork head coach Nancy Zeigel lamented.

Zeigel’s squad led, 10-9, after a quarter before the Sailors opened the second frame with 13 unanswered points, most of those fueled by an oppressive press that led to turnovers and easy baskets.

“We changed our press to a trapping press,” Stockdale said afterwards. “We’ve been working on it in practice the whole time.”

Steamboat head coach John Ameen is just happy to have the athletes to press with success.

“This year, we have the athletic talent, we have the depth, to do that,” he said.

On top of Stockdale’s 22 points, Ameen saw Lindsey Yost and Brittany Long score seven points apiece. Emi Birch grabbed 12 rebounds, and Stockdale had seven.

Alli Zeigel led Roaring Fork with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Shea Courtney added nine points, and Joey Clingan and Maria Flores each had six.

Friday’s game was the season opener for both teams.

Glenwood Springs Post Independent reporter Jeff Caspersen contributed to this report.