Many of the most important games over the past week in girls’ basketball took place in the Class 2A division. Saw some highly critical conference games in that classification with possibly a league championship decided on the Western Slope when Soroco hosted Cedaredge on Friday. Colorado Preps had planned to attend the game but Mother Nature got in the way and made travel up to Oak Creek a bit treacherous.
And we missed quite the game as Soroco rallied for a 42-41 win over the visiting Bruins. Going into the contest, the Rams were ranked sixth in Class 2A and the Cedaredge seventh so the winner was expected to become the league championship favorite. The Rams also beat Rangely on the road the next night and now sit 10-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play. They enter the next week tied with Meeker and North Park atop the standings as both the Cowboys and Wildcats are 2-0.
It was a gutsy effort as the Rams trailed by as many as six in the second half before scoring the come-from-behind win. Peyton Parker hit the game winner late in the game to keep the Rams unbeaten in the conference while avenging a conference championship loss to the Bruins a year ago.
Normally the Rams and Bruins would meet again in the district tournament, possibly for the championship but that won’t happen this year. Cedaredge moves away from District 5 into District 3 for the post-season where they will likely battle Ignacio for the championship. If both teams win district titles, then the only chance the Rams and Bruins could meet again would be at the state tournament.
Looking down the road, Soroco plays Meeker this coming Saturday (22nd). North Park comes up later in the season on the 18th. Cedaredge recovered to slam Vail Christian the next night and is now 4-1 in league play. They face North Park on February 4th and Meeker seven days later on the 11th.
With the trip to Soroco postponed, our backup plan took us to another top 10 matchup between Holyoke and Wray. Holyoke won the December meeting by 18 points but to no one’s surprise, this contest was much closer and very intense as the result counted toward the Lower Platte league standings.
Maybe the difference in the game came in the first four minutes of each half. In both stretches, the host Dragons were nearly perfect on offense and created double digit leads. In each case, the Eagles fought back to make it a close game but in the end, the deficit was too much to overcome.
We saw Holyoke before Christmas and thought at the time they had the talent to push for a state championship. That opinion remains unchanged and may be even stronger as the Dragons have gotten improved play from junior Elise Krogmeier. She finished with 12 important points and 13 tough rebounds against Wray. If her play remains at that level, defenses will have to give her some attention and that will open additional space for the senior tandem of Kristin Vieselmeyer and Lauren Herman. Those two combined for 28 points in the win.
The biggest concern for Holyoke moving forward is depth. Except for the final few seconds, the Dragons used just one player off the bench and mainly relied on the starting five. Due to extended minutes, both starting guards, Elyce and Audrey Talavera fouled out and Herman finished with four. Managing the foul situation is almost as important as calling out sets on offense and defense for coach John Baumgartner.
Wray, which also scored a quality and narrow win over Burlington (66-64) last Tuesday fell to 5-5 with the loss. But don’t think about counting out the Eagles for a state tournament appearance or removing them from the top 10. This is a very good basketball team. Their schedule is among the most difficult in any class and they still have six more games against teams that are currently or have been ranked at some point this season. They could easily enter the postseason with seven, eight or nine losses and still be among the top teams in Class 2A.
Their strength is depth as they rotated in nine players against Holyoke and really didn’t miss a beat with any lineup. There is experience in seniors Karly Godsey, Kylin Hillman, Kaycee McBride, Chole Cure and junior Larissa Salmans. All played heavy minutes in the state tournament last year. And there is very talented youth in sophomores Sharon Greek and Sydnee Cheek. Those two both played critical minutes in the fourth quarter and neither backed away from the challenge. They could see even more time in February and March as the Eagles make another postseason push.
Against Holyoke, they struggled on shots from five feet and in and at the foul line. They were just 10 of 20 from the stripe and that includes a six for six effort from Salmans in the fourth quarter. Make some of those and hit a few more bunnies and the Eagles easily could have scored the major road victory. Another key was the loss of Godsey to fouls midway through the fourth quarter and losing their leading scorer hampered their comeback bid.
Staying in the Lower Platte for one more note, let’s give a shout out to Akron for their win over Yuma (47-40) last Friday. It wasn’t too long ago this matchup would occur four times a season and each had title considerations. The two regular season meetings would likely determine the league title, they would meet a third time for the district crown and then a fourth meeting in the state finals. The matchup last Friday lacked that type of luster but it was still a solid win for the Rams as they took out a top 10 opponent. Addi Kessinger, who is one of the top players statewide in Class 2A, exploded for 32 of the Rams 47 points and hit 12 of 16 shots from the field. She also pulled down a game high nine rebounds. The sophomore is averaging 21 points and 14 rebounds a game through eight games this year.
Our travels this week also took us to Fowler where we got a quick glance at the highly ranked Rye Thunderbolts. They overwhelmed the Grizzlies 71-14 as the game was basically over late in the first quarter. The Thunderbolts are very talented but could be hurt in the postseason by the lack of challenges during the regular season and in conference play. Fowler could battle Hoehne and a couple of others for second place in the Santa Fe and the Thunderbolts took them out by 57; so the gap between Rye and the rest of the conference is a large one. They’ve won every game this year by 33 points and their remaining schedule seems to have more of the same results on tap. The “Bolts should easily cruise through that list and the district tournament to enter the regional round without a loss; but also unchallenged.
Also want to note that the Thunderbolts are much more the Adamson sisters. Sydney and Sophie are the key on both ends of course, but there is other good talent on the roster including Morgan Elarton and Jordan Holgerson-Rahl. Both provide rebounds, points underneath and tremendous defense. Gracie Graham completes the starting five and sophomore Alaina Bourgeios could be important as she provides some size off the bench.
Moving to Class 1A, Fleming continues to work through a rugged schedule. The Wildcats this past week scored their third and fourth straight wins over a top 10 opponent. They downed Lone Star on Thursday and then Stratton on Friday. The week before, the defending state runners-up knocked out both Merino and Kit Carson on consecutive days.
The win over Lone Star appeared easy as they created a 21-point first half lead only to see the visiting Longhorns cut it to three in the fourth quarter. Then experience took over as the Wildcats pulled away for the 52-40 decision. Whitney Chintala scored 19 and Madi Serrato continued her recent solid play with 12.
Against Stratton, Fleming led 25-22 at halftime but pulled way throughout the second half; outscoring the Eagles 29-14 over the final two quarters. Chintala again topped the scoring column with 16 and Serrato added 11. Kally Kirkwood chipped in 10.
The schedule eases a bit as Fleming meets Otis on Monday, Idalia on Friday and Prairie on Saturday. Then the following week, the Wildcats challenge 2A Akron on the 27th before the big showdown with top ranked Briggsdale on the 29th.
As mentioned, Merino fell victim to Fleming earlier this month and while the Rams did some good things in that loss, they played at a much higher level while taking out Genoa Hugo 50-17 last Saturday. The Rams went with a very young starting lineup including the freshman guard tandem of Brooklyn Sutter and Veronica Baray. Sophomore Makenna Sutter also starts but moving the forward, the Rams will probably go as far as senior Taysa Conger can carry them.
The senior put together a monster effort against Caliche last Friday; scoring 20 points with a whopping 29 rebounds. She also added three assists and four rebounds. She followed up with 13 points and three rebounds in limited minutes against Hugo. Conger is very good at the high post where she can turn and score on the drive or with her very good mid-range jumper.
Because high winds cancelled their Friday date with Wheatland-Grinnell KS, Cheyenne Wells had to wait 24 additional hours to play their first game as a ranked team. The Tigers did not suffer a letdown as they blew past Weskan KS 39-19 on Saturday. The win pushed them to 7-1 on the season. Paige Ryser netted 15 and Erin Minton added 10 in the win.
Next up, the Tigers get challenged in league play against Wiley on Friday and then visit a solid Kiowa club on Saturday. Down the road, they must deal with the likes of McClave, Stratton and Cheraw so they will be battled tested once district tournaments arrive.
On the 3A level, the best wins were earned by Alamosa and Eaton. Alamosa started what seems to be a wide open IML chase by upsetting #10 Pagosa Springs 38-32. They outscored the Pirates 16-7 in the fourth quarter to collect the impressive conference road win. They are now 5-5 and will return to league play at Bayfield this coming Friday. In between is a non-league date at Buena Vista on Tuesday.
Eaton has future dates with top ranked Platte Valley and second ranked University so the fourth ranked Reds need to keep winning conference games to keep pace with the Broncos and Bulldogs in the rugged Patriot. Over the past week, the Reds scored an important league win over Resurrection Christian (60-44) as Ahana Leffler scored 10 and Leyah Scott added 10. The Cougars will likely battle Brush for the fourth spot behind the big three so it was a solid win for the Reds who have just one conference game against Frontier Academy this week.
Up in Class 4A, to say Mead had a dominating week is almost an understatement. They rolled Falcon, Silver Creek and Greeley West with ease; outscoring those three teams 245-67. The Mavericks are 11-1 and should get to 14-1 before hosting 2nd ranked Windsor in a huge game on the 28th.
Thompson Valley also had a strong week; beating both Northridge 66-50 and 9th ranked Berthoud 57-42 over a four day span. Becca Wiersema had 15 and both Cammy Wiersema and Amelia Solt scored 10 against Northridge. Cammy Wiersema and Solt each tallied 13 in the Berthoud win while Charlie Durtsche (11) and freshman Avery Gibbs (10) combined for another 21.
The two wins keep Thompson Valley tied with Roosevelt (both 3-0) atop the Longs Peak race. And for good measure, the Eagles followed up the conference wins by scoring an in-city rivalry victory over Loveland on Saturday.
Let’s also mention D’Evelyn and Green Mountain from the 4A Jeffco. They meet for the first of two meetings this Wednesday and those two games will determine first and second place in the conference. The clubs are a combined 20-1 and badly need a tight game to help prep them for a postseason run. D’Evelyn drilled Conifer 78-6 and Wheat Ridge 68-20 for conference wins last week. Green Mountain handled Standley Lake early in the week and final score wise, appeared to be pushed by Evergreen (62-43) but the Rams led that game 43-17 at halftime. Jayda Maves poured in 28 and Avery Oaster added 13 in the win. Morgan Falconer finished with 11 including a team-high three treys.
Valor Christian and Rangeview grabbed our attention from Class 5A last week. Ironically, the Eagles and Raiders collide this Wednesday and both will have plenty of momentum going in.
All Valor accomplished during the week was to beat both Regis and Mullen over a three-day stretch. The matchup with Mullen was highly anticipated as both teams entered the game as defending state champions and the number one ranked team in their respective class. Valor’s Reagan Beers had a special game with 35 points and 18 rebounds. She hit 15 of 21 shots and eight of her rebounds came on the offensive end.
Rangeview was a preseason top 10 club but despite a 9-2 start, have not appeared in the rankings of late. That could change based on their 50-31 win over 7th ranked Chaparral last week. It’s not often a team from the EMAC picks up a win over a Continental opponent so the victory should register with voters across the division. Genesis Sweetwine (13) and Nyera West (12) combined for 25 points.
Some individual notes to close out the Notebook this week. Both Olivia Reed of Windsor and Kristin Vieselmeyer of Holyoke reached the 1000 career points mark during the past week. And Denver East head coach Dwight Berry collected his 300th win as the Angels topped ThunderRidge.
If you have information on players and/or coaches reaching milestones for their career or season, please send us an email with the details to [email protected].
