Arvada West girls hoops put in remarkable defensive effort against Horizon

ARVADA — The word of the night was ‘compete’ for Arvada West’s girls basketball team.

A clearly refocused Wildcats squad turned the word into ‘dominate’ as A-West rolled to a 53-21 home victory against Horizon on Friday night. The Hawks (16-5 record) was held to a season-low 21 points and made just six field goals in Horizon’s worst loss by margin of points this season.

“In practice we were focusing on it all week,” A-West sophomore Emerson Drake said of the defensive effort in the non-league game. “We were pushing each other to do better. It translated into the game really well.”

A-West coach Brady Meeks said he had a talk with his team on Wednesday after a win the night before against Bear Creek.

“In all honesty, I wasn’t real pleasant to deal with and the kids understood it,” Meeks said. “We got back to competing a little bit harder. We’ve been in a bit of a slump, it’s pretty obvious to most people.”

A-West (17-4, 6-4 in Class 6A Jeffco League) sits fourth in the conference standings behind Valor Christian, Columbine and Ralston Valley. A-West got off to a 10-0 start to the season, but in the four league losses the Wildcats have given up on average of 68.5 points. That has been an issue.

“I’ve been priding our program on being a defensive first team for years. This defense has been horrific and it all starts with me,” Meeks said. “I control practices and the kids control the games, to be honest. I’m proud of them bringing it tonight.”

Horizon couldn’t get anything going offensively. Sophomore Bella Alvarado had a team-high 7 points. The Hawks were held to just two points in the fourth quarter making 2-of-6 free-throws in the final eight minutes.

“They all understood how important defense was going to be,” Meeks said. “Tonight was basically the start of playoffs for us. We have got to start showing what we can be if we want to make a legit run in the playoffs and not be a one-and-done type of team in the playoffs.”

Drake led A-West offensively with 14 points. Junior Macie Ferguson also hit double-digits with 11 points. Sophomore Grace Schillie got the start and had 8 points. Freshman Brooklyn Meurer came off the bench for 9 points.

A-West closes the regular season next week with league road games against Chatfield (Wednesday, Feb. 18) and Ralston Valley (Saturday, Feb. 21). Wins would definitely help the Wildcats when it comes to the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index. A-West is currently No. 13 in the index that seeds the 40-team 6A state tournament that begins Wednesday, Feb. 25.

“We know what we have to do the next few games,” Drake said. “We just needed to get it going again.”

Meeks said he would likely give his team Saturday off of practice, but will get back to work next week.

“I want to bottle this up, but then push it forward. Not be just satisfied,” Meeks said. “We have to dive back in. We’ll get back in Monday and Tuesday, just start competing against. Everyone is fighting for minutes. Everyone is fighting for starting positions. It is just how it has to be if we want to get to where we want to go.”