Two teams that don’t garner a ton of press due to location lead off our girls basketball notebook for this week. Those two clubs are both in Class 1A as Dove Creek and North Park collected impressive non-league wins over the past few days that will boost their RPI and confidence going into the postseason later this month.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MATTHEW SHULER / JACKSON COUNTY STAR
Dove Creek has spent much of the year in the 1A Top 10 but stepped up to the 3A level to down Montezuma Cortez 50-26 last week. It was the second high quality win over a larger school for the Bulldogs who also own a San Juan league win over 2A Ignacio.
Stats for the win over Montezuma Cortez are not posted to MaxPreps but the Bulldogs have used offensive balance to win 14 of 15 games this year. Lexi Gray (13.1) paces the Bulldogs in scoring but Kylie Gatlin, Trista Barnett and Rylee Hickman each provide more than nine points a game. All four are underclassmen as well.
Dove Creek now stands eighth in RPI this week which is more than enough to earn them the top district seed. They’re battling North Park for that spot and those two clubs are expected to meet in the district championship game later this month. The Wildcats went 1-1 through a difficult weekend where they lost to Cedaredge 54-35 on Friday and then knocked off Meeker 73-65. Both are 2A opponents and the split moved the Wildcats to third in the Western Slope chase and 16th in RPI. With only two weeks remaining in the regular season, North Park probably can’t catch Dove Creek for the top seed but it seems they are primed for a district championship pairing with the Bulldogs.
The offensive output against Meeker was a season high for the Wildcats and may have been a bit surprising since it was their fourth game of the week. They also lost to defending state champion Flatirons Academy back on Monday and beat Olathe on Thursday before going back-to-back with Cedaredge and Meeker. Despite the tired legs, Paige Sanchez dropped in 29 points and Dezirae Gonzales added 26. Kaylee Carlstrom connected on three of six three-point attempts and finished with 13.
A couple of other 1A clubs that posted a momentum building win were Sierra Grande and Simla. Both clubs have struggled throughout the season but Sierra Grande knocked out Cotopaxi 45-27 and Simla upset #8 Kiowa. Sierra Grande is now 5-7 and Simla reached the five hundred mark at 6-6.
For the Panthers, the win gives them some confidence entering a tough stretch where they will face Sangre De Cristo on Friday and then Centennial on Saturday. Sangre De Cristo is heavily favored to win the league title and top district seed but if the Panthers can beat Centennial the next week, they will probably earn the runner-up spot in both conference and districts.
Simla’s win leaves them tied with Evangelical Christian atop the 1A Black Forest. They play Evangelical Christian on the road on the 15th but closer on the schedule is another difficult league game with Elbert this Wednesday. Wins in both will lock down the conference championship.
Juniors carried the Cubs against Kiowa as Ryann Eurich (15) and Jillian Nipple (10) combined for 25 points. Freshman Kylie Maranville added eight points with seven rebounds. Eurich led the Cubs with ten rebounds.
Merino opened the weekend sharing the 1A/2A Lower Platte lead but back-to-back losses to Sedgwick County and Holyoke on Friday and Saturday dropped them down to third. Neither loss was unexpected as the Dragons were ranked #1 and the Cougars #4 but the high level competition only gets the Rams better prepped for the postseason push. In fact, the Rams moved to fifth in 1A RPI following the two losses.
Holyoke also moved past Yuma on Friday so the two wins keep the Dragons alone atop the Lower Platte chase. They’re in good shape to win the conference crown as they will be favored in their final three games against Wiggins (Thursday), Akron (Friday) and Caliche (18th) but nothing has been easy for any team in a league that could send five teams to regionals in Class 2A and two more in Class 1A.
Wiggins is a prime example of how up and down the Lower Platte league can be. The Tigers moved into the rankings last week and played well in a win over Prairie last Tuesday. They carried that over to Caliche on Friday where they exploded for 33 first quarter points on their way to a 76-25 win. Then the next night, the Tigers were held to just 37 in a ten-point loss to Akron. Now they must rebound quickly as the next three opponents are Holyoke, Wray and Merino.
Akron picked up 24 points from Addi Kessinger, 11 from Quincy Basler and 10 from Janessa Shook in their win over Wiggins. The win pushed them 10-5 on the season and up to 12th in RPI. Wiggins sits 13th and both are very much alive for a regional tournament berth as at an-large team even if they come up short in a quarterfinal game. League rivals Holyoke and Sedgwick County are first and third in RPI and Wray is 21st.
By comparison, Rye is 17-0 but only seventh in RPI. And it comes down to scheduling. The Thunderbolts opponents have a winning percentage of 43 percent compared to 53 percent for both Akron and Wiggins. Holyoke’s number is 59 percent and Sedgwick County is up to almost 61 percent.
The Thunderbolts of course can’t control the quality of their league and we give credit to them for simply overwhelming the entire Santa Fe conference. They handled Hoehne by 32 points last week which marked their narrowest margin of victory on the season. It edged out the dominant 33-point win over 7th ranked Cedaredge from early December. And what made the margin even more impressive as the Farmers also entered the matchup unbeaten in conference play.
Sydney Adamson scored 21, Sophie Adamson 15 and Jordan Holgerson-Rahl 13 in the win. Sophie also came close to a triple-double as she finished with 11 assists and seven steals.
Game two with the Farmers is set for Tuesday and that leaves Rye with just one more game as they close with Rocky Ford on the 15th. They should enter the district bracket at 19-0 and overwhelming favorites to land another crown.
Soroco continues to lead the Western Slope conference as they posted two wins over the weekend; beating Vail Christian and West Grand. The win over Vail Christian was special for Coach David Bruner as it was his 200th career win. The Rams are 15-1 overall and need two more wins to secure the league title. They have three games left as they host Hayden on Friday and then finish with North Park and Plateau Valley in the final week.
For the entire season, Platte Valley has been ranked number one in Class 3A with Patriot league rivals Eaton and University also in the top five. We’ve been waiting all season for those three to start squaring off and the first of the three major clashes took place last week. Eaton scored the narrow 55-50 win to remain unbeaten in the conference and tied with Platte Valley.
Eaton attempted just 34 shots but made 14 including six three-pointers. Three of those came from Leyah Scott as she finished with 12 points. Ahana Leffler led the Reds with 18 points including a 9-13 performance at the foul line. Eaton made 21 free throws on the night compared to just 13 for the Bulldogs. The Reds also won the rebound battle 27-23 but committed one more turnover than University (21-20).
Now Eaton looks to carry that momentum into a showdown with Platte Valley on Tuesday night. The Reds have the advantage of playing at home but the Broncos are the defending state champions. They’re 15-0 and have outscored those opponents by almost 500 points (937-444). Platte Valley also meets University on the 15th.
University recovered nicely from the Eaton loss to bounce Strasburg (53-31) and 4A Skyview (59-49). Taryn Kravig exploded for 27 points against Strasburg and also led the way with 16 against Skyview. On the weekend, she connected on seven three-pointers including five against the Indians.
Colorado Springs Christian has quietly moved into the top five of 3A RPI with their latest win coming on the road to Lamar over the weekend. The Lions are two games back of Vanguard in the Tri Peaks chase and won’t win a conference title but their goal is to meet the Coursers for the district championship. Vanguard is 3rd in RPI and stands at 11-2 on the season. St Mary’s is also in the mix as the Pirates are 13-2 and sixth in the most recent RPI.
The Lions beat Lamar 47-28 to celebrate their seventh straight win following a 40-38 loss to St Mary’s. They take a break from the conference slate by facing 4A Mesa Ridge on Tuesday.
Thanks to a 52-38 win at Alamosa on Friday, Centauri is very much alive for the Intermountain league championship. The result actually leaves those two teams tied for the conference lead. The two meet again on February 15th. Centauri still has a second league game with Pagosa Springs while the Moose have already beaten the Pirates twice. The Falcons also have a major rivalry game at Sanford on Tuesday so their remaining schedule is difficult.
Abbey Smith led the Falcons with 20 points and Amaya Garcia added 11. They are using their bench wisely as nine different Falcons scored and grabbed a rebound. Kailyn Polzin topped the team in rebounds with five and they recorded 11 steals overall.
Alamosa also put nine in the scorebook with Mary Masias leading the way with nine. Morgan Ortega and Miranda Geringer each added nine.
Holy Family may have picked up the best win in 4A last week. The Tigers topped 3rd ranked Mead 46-33 and now stand alone in second behind top ranked Windsor in the Northern conference. The Tigers admittedly did not play well in a 29-point loss to Windsor on January 25th but have since collected three league wins; surrounding the Mead victory with wins over Erie and Sand Creek.
The defense against Mead was top notch. The Tigers earned 17 steals including four apiece from Mariah Quintana and Essynce Contreraz. Contreraz also topped the offense with 16 points including 11 free throws. Makenna Bertsch also chipped in 11 points in the win.
Holy Family has one more league game remaining against Longmont on Monday and then will be the number two seed for the league tournament which opens the next night. They could easily get another shot at the top ranked Wizards in the championship game on February 19th.
They still need two more conference wins, but Glenwood Springs basically locked up the 4A Western Slope championship by beating Summit 32-26 last Saturday. That win gave the Demons a two game edge on Summit and they’ve also beat the Tigers twice. The Demons will earn an automatic playoff berth as a league champion but they hope to boost their RPI number over the final two weeks of the season. They’re currently 19th and climbing into the top 16 would possibly give them a first round bye and their first playoff game at home.
Staying out West, Fruita Monument continues to chalk up victories. They’re 16-2 thanks to an important 45-37 win over #8 Grand Junction Central (4A) last Friday. With that victory, the Wildcats are the first half leader in the Southwestern chase and will likely stay alone in first until the rematch with Central on the 15th. Fruita has won 10 straight ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with 3A #9 Delta. The Panthers won’t be intimidated as they also topped Central last week; beating the Warriors 56-49 on Saturday behind 20 points from sophomore Tatum Miller and 13 from senior Erika Kuta. The Panthers shot well the entire game; connecting on 20 of 36 field goal attempts. They also made all three attempts from beyond the arc.
ThunderRidge may be on the way back as a big school program. It wasn’t that long ago the Grizzlies combined with local rival Highlands Ranch to win nine consecutive 5A state championships. But recently, the Grizzlies fell behind the top programs but Saturday’s upset of #7 Regis could be a signal they are ready to be in the Final Four decision once again. Alexis Baker totaled 21 points with 15 coming from the three-point line. Rebecca Winston added 15. Both are sophomores and helping with the rebuild of the ThunderRidge program. The Grizzlies improved to 15-6 and bumped to 13th in RPI. Another win over 4A power George Washington on Tuesday also boosted both numbers.
4th ranked Arapahoe prepped for their first league battle with #2 Grandview this week by rolling past 9th ranked Ralston Valley 55-31 on Saturday. The Warriors shot 30 three-pointers and made seven including four from Emily Thomas. Defensively, they limited the Mustangs to just 27 percent from the field overall (13-49).
The game closed up a very tough two-day stretch for Ralston Valley who also fell to top ranked Valor Christian. There they shot just 23 percent from the field (9-40). The Mustangs are now 10th in RPI and must get by Pomona and Columbine over the next two weeks to secure second behind Valor Christian in the Jeffco.
In beating Pine Creek and Fountain Fort Carson over the weekend, Doherty is the Pikes Peak league champions. The wins moved the Spartans to 8-0 with Pine Creek in second at 6-2 and Fountain Fort Carson (6-3) dropping into a third place tie. Doherty has just two league games remaining so even with losses in both, they would be declared the champion based on their head-to-head win over Pine Creek.
The game with Pine Creek was over early as the Spartans jumped to a 21-3 lead after one quarter. They went on to win 56-33. Saturday’s win came by the almost identical score of 54-33 but was won in a different manner. There the Spartans trailed 10-8 after one quarter but then outscored the Trojans 30-12 over the next 16 minutes.
