Saturday’s highly anticipated matchup of #1 Holyoke and #5 Limon leads off what should be an excellent week for 2A girls basketball. Other important games on tap include #7 Wray-#10 Wray, #4 Del Norte-Ignacio and a couple of early but key conference contests in the Black Forest and Western Slope.
Both Holyoke and Limon are considered strong challengers for the state championship and each have talented and deep rosters. But maybe the most individual matchup could be on the inside between sophomores Kristen Vieselmeyer (Holyoke) and Trista Marx (Limon).
Vieselmeyer averages 15.8 points and 11.5 rebounds and is coming off a 26 point-13 rebound effort against Burlington last week. She’s recorded double-doubles in six of her last seven games. Marx is also on a hot streak as she’s reached double figures in three of her last four games including a season high 18 in last week’s win over Denver Christian. For the season, her averages stand at 12 points and eight rebounds.
Neither Vieselemyer or Marx are the lone weapons for either team. Holyoke has four other players averaging at least five points a game; a group led by Lauren Herman and Emily Jelden at 6.9. Shianne Willmon (5.5) and Sarah Razo (5.0) can also score critical baskets. Herman also chips in 6.4 rebounds and Jelden over seven assists.
It’s the same story with Limon with four seniors scoring over six points a night. Sydney Hines (8.9), Elivia Hilferty (7.0), Toni Lopez (6.6) and Amy Weisensee (6.3) are in that group and all have extensive varsity experience including visits to the state tournament.
It may be a bit early to take RPI into consideration but these two clubs will be among the group vying for the top overall playoff seed. Holyoke is 3rd this week and Limon 4th as they trail Heritage Christian and Rocky Ford for the top spot.
A second non-league game of note has Ignacio (3-4) on the road to Del Norte (6-1) on Thursday night. Both teams could end the regular season as conference champions so the winner will gain some valuable RPI points and possibly a higher post-season placement. Below five hundred overall, Ignacio is 2-1 against 2A schools with a lone loss to Limon. They’re 1-1 in January including a very important 67-41 win over Dove Creek inside the San Juan.
Del Norte is 1-0 against 2A opponents; beating Swink 50-24 as part of the La Junta Holiday Tournament. They’ve won two straight including a narrow 48-44 decision over #3 Sangre De Cristo (1A) last Saturday. They’re led by the duo of Kendra Parra and Kaeci Madrid.
Friday’s battle between Yuma and Wray will again impact the Lower Platte league championship. Normally the winner is declared the conference champion, but with Holyoke playing very good basketball, that’s not necessarily the case this year. The winner will remain in contention but still must get through the Dragons before claiming the championship.
Since they’ve already beaten Yuma twice this year, Wray is favored in round three. The Eagles took the first game (48-42) back in December and then knocked off the Indians (41-32) one week later at the Goodland Topside classic.
Yuma has won two straight; beating a good Simla club 54-39 before Christmas and then Akron 60-29 in their league opener last week. Ema Richardson netted a career-best 29 points in the win over Akron. Reagan Nolin added 17 including three treys. Richardson has scored 25 points in the two losses to Wray and Nolin has 13. Nolin also dropped in a career high 32 points in a win over Burlington.
Wray’s only in-state loss came to Holyoke (49-31). They’ve played three times since Christmas; splitting two games against Nebraska opponents and downing Burlington 55-40 earlier this week. Karley Godsey had 18 points in that win; leading ten players in the scoring column. Larissa Salmans and Tabby Jones both finished with nine. Jones has totaled 22 points against Yuma and has reached double figures in both. Godsey has 20 points in the two wins and Salmans 15.
Wiggins (6-3) also goes to Sedgwick County (4-3) in a game a bit under the radar. That winner could easily end up as the fourth place team behind Holyoke, Wray and Yuma in the league standings. The benefit there is a chance to play at home in round one of the district tournament.
With six unbeatens in the Western Slope, it’s still too early to pick a winner there. Paonia, Plateau Valley and Rangely all sit at 1-0 while Hotchkiss, Soroco and Meeker have all won their first two conference games. Two of those unbeatens meet on Saturday as Rangely (7-1) visits Plateau Valley (6-1). It’s their second meeting as Rangely scored a 42-28 non-league win before Christmas. Kacie Lapp (15) and Mary Scoggins (13) combined for 28 points in that win. Those two also led the Panthers in last week’s 41-38 conference win at Hayden as Lapp finished with 16 and Scoggins 10.
Plateau Valley held off Vail Christian 35-31 in overtime last Saturday in their first conference game.
Hotchkiss (6-1) also goes to Hayden (7-2) on Saturday. The Bulldogs have beaten Caprock Academy and DeBeque in league play. Hayden as mentioned, fell to Rangely last week despite 12 points from Alison Rajzer.
Based on history and play so far this year, Simla remains favored to land the Black Forest title this year but it won’t be easy. The Cubs should get pushed by Peyton, Colorado Springs School and possibly Calhan. Those four teams collide this week in important early games across the conference.
Let’s lead off with Simla and Calhan as they’ve already played once this season. The Cubs won 51-31 as they surrendered just 20 points over the final three quarters. Taylor Warnecke, with 16 points and Kaitlyn Rector with 12 led the offense. They also recorded 21 rebounds to help Simla win that category overall 34-26. Calhan was led by Kaylee Ricketts with 14 points and Jaiden Monger with seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs enter the rematch riding high from two straight wins. They finished December by beating Crowley County and then opened 2020 by rolling past Kiowa 56-33 last week. They led the Indians just 20-13 at halftime but opened the second half with a 24-7 run.
Simla moved to 6-1 by blasting Byers 57-18 on Tuesday. Defense was against strong as the Cubs did not allow more than six points in any quarter. It was again the combination of Warnecke and Rector that paced the offense as both tallied 16 points. Ryann Eurich, just a freshman, added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Peyton and Colorado Springs School are a combined 10-2 on the season. And both should add to the win column before meeting on Saturday as the Panthers are favored against Thomas MacLaren and CSS against Miami-Yoder the night before.
The Panthers collected two wins over quality 1A opponents last week; downing Elbert 62-49 and Genoa Hugo 51-39 on back-to-back nights. Kayleigh Mannering totaled 21 points and Shelby Miller 15 and both had three treys in the win over Elbert. They then each scored 16 points including four more three’s from Manngering against Genoa Hugo.
CSS opened the campaign with a loss to Ignacio (42-26) but has captured their last four. Wins are against Crowley County, Pikes Peak Christian (twice) and Edison. They’re scoring 53 points per game with nearly half coming from the duo of Sarina Mansour (12.8) and Whitney Richardi (10.6). The Kodiaks have good size along the baseline but could struggle against some full court pressure.
Defending league champion and state runner-up Swink looks to stay in the Santa Fe chase as they host #3 Rye on Thursday. The Lions have already dropped a league game to #2 Rocky Ford so another loss leaves them two games back of the league leaders.
Following the loss a talented senior class that led Swink to three state appearances in four years, the Lions are better than many people expected. Morgan Gribble is vastly improved on the inside and leads the Lions with 10.3 points and 6.3 rebounds as a senior.
Rye has outscored opponents by 297 points this year (33 per game) and a win on Thursday should make the Santa Fe a two-team race between the Thunderbolts and Rocky Ford. They meet in the regular season finale and there’s a good chance both will be unbeaten when that game tips.
The Thunderbolts have not been challenged in conference; beating Fowler (28), Swallows Charter (41), John Mall (49) and Holly (35) by a combined 163 points. Sophie Adamson (17.8) paces the team in scoring with Jolee Ortiz and Sydney Adamson also averaging double figures.
