GIRLS BASKETBALL: Schedule/Results 1-29-13

Huge encounters with both conference and statewide implications are on the Tuesday agenda as two games in Class 4A feature top ten teams on the same court.  Top ranked Pueblo South is challenged by unbeaten and fourth ranked Pueblo West in the South Central while #7 Sand Creek goes for the season sweep of #8 Palmer Ridge and the likely Pikes Peak championship.  Those two games cloud on otherwise very busy slate.

CLASS 5A

FINAL:  #1 Regis beat Mountain Vista 67-46

FINAL:  #2 Highlands Ranch beat Castle View 79-35

FINAL:  #5 Rock Canyon beat Legend 51-24

#7 Ralston Valley vs Columbine

FINAL:  #9 Chaparral beat Heritage 60-40

FINAL:  #10 Denver East beat Denver West 83-18

FINAL:  Denver South beat Lincoln 48-43

FINAL:  George Washington beat Denver North 61-21

FINAL:  ThunderRidge beat Littleton 61-26

FINAL:  Douglas County beat Ponderosa 53-38

FINAL:  Rampart beat Fountain Fort Carson 59-23

FINAL:  Poudre beat Fairview 47-33

FINAL:  Monarch beat Fossil Ridge 73-66

FINAL:  Boulder beat Fort Collins 64-56

FINAL:  Loveland beat Horizon 64-60

FINAL:  Lakewood beat Chatfield 65-36

FINAL:  Arvada West beat Pomona 49-42

Regis, Highlands Ranch, Rock Canyon and ThunderRidge begin the week tied atop the Continental with identical 3-0 records and all four are expected to post a fourth conference win this evening.  Regis has the most difficult test facing a Mountain Vista team with just three losses overall.  The Golden Eagles dropped a 12 point decision to Rock Canyon last Tuesday and are tied for fifth in league play at 2-1.  Chaparral (1-2) is probably in a must win situation the rest of the way if they wish to finish in the top four of the conference.  Maybe the best battles take place in the Front Range where Poudre (8-0) leads Horizon (7-1) by one game and Loveland (6-2) by two.  The Impalas can gain more separation with a win tonight if Loveland also upsets Horizon.  In that scenario, Poudre goes to the weekend with a two game advantage.  Horizon has won four straight since a loss to Monarch.  Loveland has won six straight since a loss to Poudre.  They also suffered a league loss to Fort Collins.  Ralston Valley and Denver East appear to be the class of the Jeffco and City leagues respectively.  Ralston Valley has a huge date with second place Lakewood on Friday while East should not be challenged in conference play.

CLASS 4A

FINAL:  #1 Pueblo South beat #4 Pueblo West 44-39

FINAL:  #2 Broomfield beat Niwot 62-18

FINAL:  #5 D’Evelyn beat Green Mountain 43-34

FINAL:  #6 Windsor beat Frederick 64-36

FINAL:  #7 Sand Creek beat #8 Palmer Ridge 57-47

FINAL:  Air Academy beat Falcon 52-29

FINAL:  Vista Ridge beat Cheyenne Mountain 45-41

FINAL:  Discovery Canyon beat Lewis Palmer 36-32

FINAL:  Canon City beat Pueblo County 42-37

FINAL:  Pueblo East beat Pueblo Central 45-42

FINAL:  Centaurus beat Greeley Central 48-37

FINAL:  Thompson Valley beat Mountain View 55-49

FINAL:  Silver Creek beat Longmont 62-45

FINAL:  Roosevelt beat Northridge 52-30

FINAL:  Mead beat Skyline 53-49

FINAL:  Berthoud beat Erie 45-38

FINAL:  Kennedy beat Thomas Jefferson 67-36

FINAL:  Conifer beat Alameda 90-30

FINAL:  Fort Morgan beat Skyview 43-33

FINAL:  Elizabeth beat Englewood 56-29

FINAL:  Glenwood Springs beat Eagle Valley 49-33

It’s easily the most important day to date in Class 4A as four top ten teams battle for a conference championship.  Pueblo South entertains Pueblo West in the first of two huge clashes inside the South Central.  Since both the Colts and Cyclones are expected to win their remaining league games, tonight’s winner should land at least a share of the league championship.  Sand Creek has already beaten Palmer Ridge once this year (46-41) and a season sweep should land them the Pikes Peak crown.  The Scorpions lead the Bears by one game in the standings.  Pueblo South offers up the talented one-two punch of Shannon Patterson (18.6) and Mikala Gordon (16.3) who average 35 points a game.  Patterson has been incredibly consistent scoring at least 15 points in every game except one (10 vs Palmer).  Gordon is coming off a 25 point effort in last week’s 48 point slamming of Pueblo Central.  He was held to single digits against Palmer (8) as well in the Colts lone loss.  West has not tasted defeat this year (15-0).  The Cyclones get 18 points a game from Taylor Leyva and 14 from Haley Simental.  A good third option is Daisy Romero who averages nearly 13 points a night.  Sand Creek outscored Palmer Ridge 24-16 in the second half in the first meeting of the two teams as they rallied for the win despite 21 points from Bears junior Ali Meyer.  She hit eight of 13 shots from the field in the quality loss.  Palmer Ridge has not lost since the first meeting including a tournament championship in Colby KS.  The Scorpions have won seven in a row since a loss to 5A power Grandview.  A third key game tonight pits #5 D’Evelyn against Green Mountain.  The Jags lead the Rams by one game in the Jeffco standings but D’Evelyn (14) has five more wins on the season than tonight’s opponent.  In the Northern league, Broomfield should have little trouble keeping their one game edge at home against Niwot.  Centaurus and Thompson Valley both need wins to stay within range of the Eagles.  Windsor has at least a two game lead on all other challengers in the Tri Valley.  They also have an important game with Roosevelt on Friday and two wins this week will all but wrap up the league crown for the Wizards.

CLASS 3A

FINAL:  #8 Valley beat Estes Park 57-33

FINAL:  #10 Olathe beat Coal Ridge 49-48

FINAL:  Classical Academy beat Florence 48-34

FINAL:  Manitou Springs beat Buena Vista 44-38

FINAL:  Salida beat Colorado Springs Christian 39-32

FINAL:  Kent Denver beat Bennett 60-45

FINAL:  Eaton beat Brush 50-40

FINAL:  Frontier Academy beat University 36-18

FINAL:  Grand Valley beat Aspen 75-26

FINAL:  Clear Creek beat Lake County 55-17

FINAL:  Sheridan beat Academy 40-38

Well it took less than 24 hours for our new set of rankings to be blown up.  Monday morning we released our weekly poll and it had Denver Science as the new number one but the Knights were knocked off by Holy Family (39-33) on Monday night.  The Tigers were ranked fourth this week but the state champions four of the last five years will continue their climb to the top.  The game also continued a trend of defensive minded games among top ten teams this year.  Neither team scored 40 points in last night’s game and then last Friday Lamar edged then #1 St  Mary’s 32-30.  A huge battle in the Intermountain League between Centauri and Pagosa Springs two weeks ago ended up with the Falcons scoring a 26-24 decision.  It will be curious to see if this “defensive” trend continues to the post-season.  Valley opens play this week sharing first place in the Patriot with Sterling but Estes Park is one of several teams with just one league loss.  The Vikings (10-2) have recorded eight straight wins since losing to Paonia at the Holy Family Tournament in mid-December.  They’re coming off a solid 39-30 home win over Brush on Friday that kept them in the top spot.  It was the sixth straight game they’ve allowed 30 points or fewer.  Keeping that streak intact may be difficult as the Bobcats average 47 points a game.  They’re led by senior Amanda Dill with nearly 17 points a game.  Their lone league loss came to Sterling (42-29) in the conference opener.  Olathe has a huge weekend in store as they face both co-leader Moffat County and third place Roaring Fork.  They head to Coal Ridge tonight with hopes of not looking past the Titans.  Classical Academy scored just 46 points last week while splitting two conference games.  Their 27-20 loss to Salida last Friday cost them sole possession of first place in the Tri Peaks West. TCA won the first meeting with the Huskies 50-35.  Should the Titans finish off the season sweep then Manitou Springs needs a win over Buena Vista to keep a share of first place.  The Mustangs beat the Demons 37-32 in Buena Vista and now get the chance to play at home tonight.  The win over Classical Academy kept Salida in the Tri Peaks West title discussion and now the Spartans look to build on that momentum at home this evening.  Bennett and Kent Denver is an attractive non-conference between two teams that should make the 32-team state tournament so seeding could be impacted with tonight’s outcome.  Both teams currently sit in the middle of the pack of their respective conference.

CLASS 2A

FINAL:  #5 Yuma beat Wiggins 68-29

FINAL:  Highland beat Strasburg 52-49

FINAL:  Chase County NE beat Wray 58-54

FINAL:  Sedgwick County beat Leyton NE 36-32

FINAL:  Meeker beat Grand Junction JV 57-25

FINAL:  Heritage Christian beat Nederland 49-23

FINAL:  Alexander Dawson beat Longmont Christian 41-23

FINAL:  Kiowa beat Fountain Valley 42-29

Coming off a highly charged emotional battle with top ranked Akron on Saturday it will be interesting to see how Yuma plays tonight.  Unbeaten going into the Akron challenge, the Indians were eager to see how they stacked up against the defending state champions.  Through the first 16 minutes, the game was even as Yuma actually led by one point (38-37) but in the second half they suffered through nearly an eight minute scoring drought and eventually fell by 16 points.  Senior Kiera Mekelburg led the offense with 17 points but defensively the Indians had not answer for Akron senior Ally Vasquez.  She scored 14 of her game high 23 points in the second half.  She also scored nine straight points late in the third quarter and early in the fourth as the Rams turned a one point lead (48-47) into a ten point advantage (57-47).  Yuma will be heavily favored tonight but they must also guard against looking ahead to Friday’s huge battle with top ranked Caliche (1A).  Highland (7-5) could be a team to watch once the 2A post-season gets underway.  The Huskies have competed well this year in the 3A dominated Patriot league and even though they likely won’t contend for the league championship, the level of competition will get them ready for a 2A district tournament.  Sophomore Jamie Clawson leads the Huskies offense with 14 points a game and Emily Anderson (10.4) is a second double digit scorer.  Strasburg is winless in league play (0-4) and has just three wins overall. 

CLASS 1A

FINAL:  #7 Jim Elliot beat Community Christian 54-34

FINAL:  #9 Belleview Christian beat Denver Waldorf 64-18

Gilpin County at Cornerstone Christian

FINAL:  Prairie beat Weldon Valley 65-35

FINAL:  Dove Creek beat Moab UT 34-22

It’s rare on the small school level but the focus tonight is on the 5280 conference where three teams all have legitimate hopes of reaching the state tournament and doing some damage once there.  Gilpin County qualified for the first time in school history last year and went 1-2 at Loveland finishing sixth following a loss to Kim on Saturday.  Even though the Eagles return quite a bit of talent from that team, they could actually be the third best team from the conference this year.  Jim Elliott is unbeaten and Belleview Christian is a 15­-point loss to Kim away from having a perfect record as well.  None of the three should be challenged tonight so they should continue sharing first place.  Belleview Christian and Gilpin County square off on Friday and the Eagles visit Jim Elliot on February 12^th.  Belleview and Jim Elliot collide on February 5^th.  Prairie is coming off a huge win over Fleming last Friday (43-24) and that victory kept them one game back of first place Pawnee in the North Central.  They’re tied with Fleming in second (3-1) but of course have the tie-breaker with the head-to-head win.  Erica Artis (12), Sheyanne Warboys (11) and Haley Dollerschell (10) led the way in Friday’s win.