Big night of girls’ basketball set for tonight as second place in the 5A Centennial is on the line and the top four teams in both the 4A Northern and Jeffco also collide. In the smaller school ranks, there’s a very good top 10 clash between Flatirons Academy and Wray on a neutral court. One team can also clinch a conference crown this evening.
Below is our daily report on the top games in each class. Final scores of these matchups will be posted here throughout the day and you can report results by text to 970.380.7737.
Photo by Steve Abeyta.
CLASS 1A
FINAL: #5 Wray (2A) beat #5 Flatirons Academy 61-56
NOTES: This highly-attractive non-conference battle is set for Brush high school today and will give both teams a lift in RPI numbers. The Bison are in great shape there as they’re second in Class 1A. Wray is 11th in 2A but would like to climb that ladder for better postseason bracketing. Flatiron’s only loss came to 2A Rocky Ford (39-37) in overtime. Since, they’ve won three including an important league win over Shining Mountain (53-42) that may push them to the 5280 championship. The Bison have an excellent mix of youth and senior leadership. Sophomore Kenlee Durrill leads the team in scoring (17.2) with freshmen Emma Cox (11.3) and Emily Dehaan (9.2) providing over 20 per game together. Seniors Savana Kascak (11.2) and Bryn Durrill (6.3) also factor in offensively. Cox is the top rebounder (10.7). Wray has just the two-point loss to Sedgwick County (65-63) keeping them from a perfect 7-0 start. Otherwise, they’ve rolled past opponents by a combined 184 points. They too have a good roster mix of young and old. Tabby Jones (12.0) is the lone senior among the top five scorers with junior Karla Godsey pacing the offense at 14 per game. Together they pull down 12 rebounds. Sophomore Laura Salmans chips in seven points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds.
CLASS 2A
FINAL: #2 Rye beat Swink 52-16
NOTES: Very tough back-to-back for Swink as the Lions faced #4 Rocky Ford on Tuesday. The Lions played well in a 43-31 loss but will need to step up their game even more to upset the Thunderbolts. Rye is 3-0 in league play and shares the top spot with Fowler and Rocky Ford. The Thunderbolts face Fowler on Saturday so they must avoid looking past this one and Friday’s game with Las Animas. Rye’s lone blemish is to 3A #3 Centauri (59-57) but that loss apparently cost them top billing in Class 2A. T hey responded by hammering Hoehne 63-10 last Friday; forcing 32 points and outscoring the Farmers 41-2 in the first half. Baylie Krueger (10.7) leads Swink in scoring. She reached double figures in her first four games but has been held below that number in each of her last three.
CLASS 3A
#1 Vanguard vs Lamar (PPD to February 22nd)
FINAL: #4 Eaton beat Strasburg 76-34
FINAL: #5 Academy beat Middle Park 66-50
FINAL: #6 Platte Valley beat Resurrection Christian 36-34
FINAL: #9 St Mary’s beat Salida 54-27
FINAL: #10 Brush beat Valley 43-39
FINAL: Ellicott beat La Junta 60-46
NOTES: Coming off the hard-fought home win over #3 Centauri on Tuesday night, Vanguard must turn around and focus on a key Tri Peaks battle with Lamar. The Savages check in at 3-1 in conference play including an upset of #9 St Mary’s just last week (63-48). That result and others left Vanguard and Ellicott atop the conference by one game over Lamar, Manitou Springs, La Junta and St Mary’s. All four have just one league loss. Other key games this evening have La Junta at Ellicott and Salida at St Mary’s. Wins tonight by Lamar, La Junta and St Mary’s would leave six teams sharing first place. Vanguard trailed Centauri by six at halftime but then outscored the Falcons 18-10 to get back into the game. Offensive rebounding, especially off missed free throws, helped them hold that lead down the stretch. Lamar also topped Salida on Saturday as Abby Robbins scored 18 points and Naudia Morales 10. Morales also chipped in six rebounds and six steals. Courtney Sneller added six steals and Alee Tice six rebounds in the win. St Mary’s recovered from the Lamar loss by holding CS Christian 64-55 the next night. Ellicott begins a key stretch as they also host Lamar on Friday. Up next week are Vanguard and Manitou Springs. Eaton (5-0) and Platte Valley (3-0) are Patriot leaders. Both are picked to win tonight but the Broncos could get pushed by Resurrection Christian. The Cougars are 2-2 in conference but lost to Eaton by just 10 points and University by eight. They’re getting 14 points and four rebounds a game from freshman McKenzie Fikkema. Brush (2-1) looks to stay alone in third as they face a much-improved Valley team that has won five of their first seven overall. Averaging just 35 points per game, the Vikings will seek a slower pace. Middle Park (2-1) is one of several teams looking to chase down Academy (4-0) in the Frontier. The Panthers sit with Bennett, Pinnacle and Jefferson in third place. They’re one game back of the Wildcats and Arrupe Jesuit (3-0).
CLASS 4A
FINAL: #1 Mullen beat #7 Arapahoe (5A) 80-48
FINAL: #3 Green Mountain beat Littleton 49-26
FINAL: #4 Windsor beat Mead 81-58
FINAL: #6 Holy Family beat #7 Erie 92-43
FINAL: #9 D’Evelyn beat Evergreen 32-30
NOTES: Mullen and Arapahoe get together to determine second place behind Grandview in the Centennial. It’s the first of two meetings and each comes in with a record of 5-1 and a loss to the Wolves. Arapahoe fell 70-42 last week and Mullen lost 68-53 in the season opener. The Mustangs get their second shot at Grandview on Friday so their championship hopes likely ride on the outcome of these two games. Gracie Gallegos (14.5) and Megan Pohs (10.7) continue to lead Mullen in scoring but each has totaled just 22 points over the last two games. Minutes have been limited as the Mustangs beat Eaglecrest and Cherokee Trail by a combined 79 points. Arapahoe scored just 26 points through three quarters against Grandview and hit just 14 of 52 shots for the game (27%). Katy Edwards topped the scoring with 16 points. The Northern league standings saw a change at the top on Monday and will do so again tonight. Windsor took out Erie 87-59 on Monday and that dropped the Tigers to 3-1 in league play and looking up to the Wizards, Holy Family and Mead. Windsor and Mead battle this evening so another unbeaten will fall. That winner will be alone in first if Erie bounces back and upsets Holy Family. Windsor’s offense has not slowed down the entire season. They’ve scored 548 points which is 61 more than any other league member. Kylie Sanger (18.0) and Olivia Reed (17.7) pace that group. They combined for 49 against Erie. The Tigers picked up 23 from Grace Moyers and 19 from Deb Altshuler in the loss. They face a Holy Family club that has won six straight since an opening loss to Lutheran. In four league games, Holy Family has allowed just 86 points with no opponent getting more than 28. They pick off 24 steals per game; led by Alyssa Wells with six and Tyler Whitlock with five. Those two also pace the Tigers in scoring; combining for nearly 28 points a game. The top four teams in the Jeffco also battle tonight. Green Mountain took over the top spot with a dominating 61-24 win over D’Evelyn on Monday night. They’ll look to hold that spot tonight and if the Rams win, then the D’Evelyn-Evergreen winner moves into sole possession of second. Jayda Maves scored 14 and Courtney Hank 13 to lead Green Mountain over D’Evelyn. They also outrebounded the Jags 37-30 with Avery Oaster getting 12 and Hank 10.
CLASS 5A
FINAL: #1 Grandview beat Overland 90-27
FINAL: #2 Valor Christian beat Chatfield 89-51
FINAL: #5 Fossil Ridge beat Fort Collins 51-28
FINAL: #6 Ralston Valley beat Arvada West 65-26
FINAL: Eaglecrest beat #10 Cherry Creek 40-33
FINAL: Monarch beat Poudre 51-38
NOTES: Grandview should have little trouble moving to 7-0 as they face last place Overland to wrap up the first series of games inside the Centennial. Round two begins on Friday with Mullen and should the Mustangs beat Arapahoe tonight, that game will be for the league lead. Tonight’s winner of Cherry Creek-Eaglecrest moves into fourth place by themselves. Both are 3-3 in league play and the survivor also remains in contention for a runner-up finish. Valor Chrsitian can clinch the Jeffco championship by beating Chatfield. They lead the Chargers and Ralston Valley by one game with two conference contests remaining. They’ve already beaten Ralston Valley so a victory tonight wraps it up. IF the Eagles win, then Ralston Valley secures second with a win since they’ve already taken out Chatfield. Valor used a 29-point second quarter to roll Columbine 69-35 on Monday. Skylar Boylan (17), Jenna Siebert (13) and Macey Huard (12) all reached double figures. Chatfield has won three straight since the Ralston Valley game. Grace Talbot netted 20 and Courtney Bidwell 19 in Monday’s win over Pomona. Wednesday could result in some separation among the Front Range standings. Fossil Ridge (4-0) is alone in first and remains there by beating Fort Collins (1-3). Poudre and Monarch are both 3-1 and tied with Horizon and Rocky Mountain in second place so one falls a bit farther down the ladder. Poudre’s offense is led by Bela Voglund (14.0) and Brooke Bohlender (11.9). They’re also 1-2 in rebounds with over seven per game apiece. Monarch counters with Natalie Guanella with 18 points and three assists per game. Amelia Rosin pulls down a team-best 6.7 rebounds.
