Just four weekends remain in the regular girls basketball season, and most teams are halfway through their schedules looking to jockey for position within leagues and districts in the small-school ranks. What does it all mean? For starters, there are going to be a lot of good matchups between teams looking to gain that upper hand.
While cross-classification games still exist because of the leagues that have been set up, coaches will continue to eye the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index with more scrutiny each passing week. After all, district seeding is the first step in a championship run.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll take a look at how the districts are shaping up. This edition will feature 3A, with 2A and 1A coming next week.
CLASS 3A
Frontier League: Bennett has surged ahead in the league title race, but don’t count out Jefferson and Platte Canyon in the top-heavy league. The Saints have won five straight games, while the Tigers have been untested in January (until a game against Platte Canyon Thursday).
Patriot: It’s hard to say who will emerge from the pack at this point, but Timnath and Highland each have logged nice wins within the league already. Highland defeated Strasburg, 57-51, on Jan. 9 and Timnath beating Platte Valley this past week. The Cubs and Huskies match up Saturday in Ault — their only matchup of the regular season.
Tri-Peaks: There is still plenty of time for Woodland Park and Salida to create havoc but at the moment all eyes are on Colorado Springs Christian (9-0) and St. Mary’s (8-1). The Vanguard School and Buena Vista also already have five league wins (yes, it’s a huge league) but the Lions have had just one opponent (Pueblo West) come within 14 points of them in a contest so far.
Western Slope: Grand Valley at the top meets second-place Olathe late Tuesday, and if the Cardinals win it’ll be hard to imagine them losing two league games the rest of the season. These teams do, however, play each other twice through the regular season so teams like Meeker, Roaring Fork and Cedaredge are not out of the equation completely.
Metro/Lower Platte: At 9-2, Yuma currently has a case to be the top district seed but it does not get the luxury of playing 4A competition like counterparts Forge Christian and St. Mary’s Academy, both of which are in the top half of the Metro standings at this juncture. Yuma will get to play some tough teams down the stretch, including Peyton at the end of this week, to prove its mettle.
Intermountain/Southern Peaks: Centauri has already lost to Intermountain frontrunner Pagosa Springs (4A), but it’ll get a chance to even things up this coming Saturday at home. As far as the 3A district, the Falcons appear in control with Ignacio the only other team at .500 or better.
Black Forest/Santa Fe: Rocky Ford could be a player as the lone Santa Fe team to join this district, as there are five SFL teams sporting winning records. But, it’s Peyton with the firm grasp on things so far as the Panthers are 10-0 and are basically doubling up opponents every night.
Mile High/Foothills: Young Windsor Charter is the wild card as the lone Foothills qualifier in 3A — the Firebirds are 7-7 and can very easily compete in their 3A/2A league. And no team has siezed control of the diverse Mile High League, with five teams racking up two league wins so far. Of those, Denver Christian, Dayspring Christian and Machebeuf have the best overall win totals with seven apiece.
Notable
West Grand is nipping at Rangely’s heels in the 2A Western Slope League and it’s setting up for a great matchup on Saturday between the teams. Winners of eight straight, the Mustangs have allowed just 25 points a game in January and are using a deep, young bench to get the job done. In fact, seven girls are averaging 4.0 points a game or better, led by junior Sage Wheatley and her 14.3 ppg.
Twin Peaks Charter is aiming for its first winning season, currently 8-4 and riding a four-game win streak going into a tough matchup Wednesday against Loveland Classical. In their last game, the Thunderwolves’ Rayn Ndow and Ella Schauer went a combined 16-for-18 with 33 points.
What a game between Peyton and McClave last Saturday, as the Panthers rallied on the road to beat the Cardinals 48-45. Sophomore Abrielle Gomez was tough to stop for McClave posting 25 points with five 3-pointers mixed in, but the three-headed monster of AJ Mannering (20 points), Emme Ratliff (10) and Abbie Nickell (12) proved too much in the end.
