Because of postponements to several important games last week, there was little change to conference standings in Class 1A and 2A girls’ basketball. Some of those games will now take place this week and they again will carry important to league championships. And if results go as expected, fans could be in for a very good final week of regular season play.
Photo by Matt Hall of Hotchkiss High School.
CLASS 1A
Ark Valley: Springfield (2-0) and South Baca (3-0) continue to share the top spot with Wiley (2-1) one game back in third. Wiley’s loss came to South Baca in mid-January so they must beat Springfield this Friday to have any chance at the title. A loss leaves the February 20th meeting between the Longhorns and Patriots as the league championship contest.
5280: Shining Mountain (3-0) and Flatirons Academy (4-0) have the lead and they will finish 1-2 as all other clubs have at least two losses. That battle comes up Tuesday. The Lions are coming off a tough 53-46 loss to #2 Briggsdale which snapped a five-game winning streak. Flatirons won their sixth in-a-row by beating Mile High Academy last week.
Black Forest: Tied for first, long-time rivals Kiowa and Elbert are both 3-0 and each has a one game edge on Evangelical Christian (2-1). Kiowa can take ECA out of the mix by beating them this Friday. If that happens, then Kiowa will then challenge Elbert for the conference crown on February 20th. Elbert has a good non-league date at Shining Mountain this Saturday.
High Plains: Kit Carson is again the champion as their win over Cheraw last Friday sealed the title. The Wildcats are 4-0 with one conference left and they’ve already beaten second place Eads (2-1). Kit Carson’s last league game is the 21st at McClave. Eads can lock down second place with a home win over Cheraw on Friday. The Eagles must also tangle with South Baca the night before.
North Central: Briggsdale and Fleming are both 6-1 and have split two league contests so it appears the two will share the championship. Both teams do have a game left with third place Prairie so there is a slight chance that at least one could stumble. We say slight change because Fleming beat the Mustangs by 21 points in the first meeting and Briggsdale won by 29.
Southern Peaks: Sangre De Cristo (6-0) continues to stand alone atop the standings with Cotopaxi (7-1) and Moffat (6-1) a game off the pace. The T-Birds have beaten Cotopaxi but won’t face Moffat until the 20th. Up this week, they have a good road test with 2A power Sanford on Tuesday. Cotopaxi has the edge for second thanks to a 44-26 win over Moffat. The Pirates could get pushed this Friday against fourth-place Antonito.
YWKC: Lone Star (4-0) and Arickaree/Woodlin (2-0) share the conference lead but the Longhorns remain heavy favorites to land the crown. They’ve won 13 games through the season compared to just two for A-Woodlin. Lone Star also has a win over Idalia on the league resume while the Indian/Mustangs still have them on the schedule as well (18th). Lone Star has a league game at Bethune this Friday.
CLASS 2A
Black Forest: The key league battle between Simla and Peyton last Friday was postponed by Mother Nature so the standings remain unchanged from last week. The Cubs continue to share the conference lead with Colorado Springs School while Peyton is in third place because of the loss to CSS last month. Simla has a very tough remaining schedule including a home game with unbeaten Rye on Saturday. Then in the final week, they face both CSS and Kit Carson plus the make-up with Peyton will come into play at some point. Neither CSS or Peyton should get pushed by a league opponent this week.
Lower Platte: Because they’ve beaten Yuma, Sedgwick County and Wray, Holyoke (6-0) has wrapped up the championship. They have a two-game lead on those three with just two conference games remaining. The Dragons go to Akron on Thursday and then host Caliche on Friday and they’re favored to win both rather easily. The race for second got more interesting when Sedgwick County knocked off Wray last Saturday. That result left the two tied with Yuma (all two losses). League wise, Yuma has Caliche (Thursday) and Haxtun (21st) left on the slate; Sedgwick County meets Akron (Friday) and Caliche (21st) while Wray deals with Wiggins and Merino this week and Akron next week.
Mile High: Heritage Christian (8-0) still has four league games left but the Eagles are very close to landing the crown. They’ve already beaten second place teams Denver Christian and Dawson (both one loss) so they would have to lose twice in league play for them to not end up on top. Up this week are games with Dayspring Christian Tuesday and Clear Creek Friday. Denver Christian and Dawson have a two-game edge on the rest of the conference so they likely will end up second and third. The order to be decided on the 18th. Also remember that Denver Christian moves out of conference and into District 4 for the post-season.
Santa Fe: Another week of waiting for the anticipated matchup of Rye (11-0) and Rocky Ford (9-0). Hoehne (7-3) is three games back in third so the Meloneer-Thunderbolt battle on the 18th will decide the top two spots. That game is in Rocky Ford. As mentioned, Rye could get a rare test at Simla on Saturday. Rocky Ford has a make-up game with Crowley County on Monday and also has games with Swallows Charter (Tuesday) and Holly (Friday) as part of a busy week.
Southern Peaks: Del Norte and Sanford have garnered the attention this year and both remain in the top 10. But Sargent has won their first three conference games to create a first-place tie with Del Norte. Those two clubs meet on Friday in Sargent. Del Norte is heavily favored as they won the first meeting 43-19. Del Norte also has an interesting trip to Ignacio on Tuesday. Sanford is favored in a league game with Center on Friday but also hosts 1A Sangre De Cristo in a nice game Tuesday.
San Juan: Ignacio (7-0) has nailed down the 2A championship and will be the #1 seed for the district tournament. They lead all other 2A opponents by four games in the loss column. Dove Creek (1A) will end up second overall as they’re three up on all others except Ignacio. Telluride, Dolores and Ridgway all have four league losses but are battling for the second and third seed to be opposite Ignacio in the district bracket. Ridgway meets Telluride on Thursday and Dove Creek on Saturday. Dolores and Telluride also meet on Saturday.
Union Pacific: Limon has wrapped up the title as they beat both Stratton/Liberty and Burlington last week. The Badgers lead Genoa Hugo by one game with only a league game left against Byers (Friday). Since they beat the Pirates earlier this season, Limon has the title based on tiebreakers regardless of the result this week. Genoa Hugo can win second place outright by beating Deer Trail on Friday. They also challenge Kit Carson on Saturday.
Western Slope: The important battle between Soroco and Hotchkiss last Friday was pushed back to this Tuesday because of weather so the top of the standings did not change. The Rams and Bulldogs are both 6-1 to share second place; one game back of unbeaten Meeker (8-0). The Cowboys stayed in first by beating Rangely on the road last week. Meeker though faces both second place clubs this week as they host Soroco on Thursday and then go to Hotchkiss on Friday. Which one is more important is dependent on the Tuesday outcome between the Rams and Bulldogs.
