Our list of top girls’ basketball games for Thursday is only four deep but all four appear to be good matchups including a championship game between Ark Valley unbeatens South Baca and Springfield.  There is also post-season play underway in Classes 2A and 3A.
 
1A:  Springfield at South Baca
Quite a bit on the line here as both teams battle for the Ark Valley championship and top district seed next week.  Both teams are 3-0 in conference play so tonight’s winner grabs both goals.  The Patriots also finish the regular season unbeaten with a win (17-0).  They’re fourth in RPI standings with Springfield checking in at number eight.
South Baca is picking up all the wins with a very young lineup that includes junior one senior.  Junior Delaney Eskew (12.6) is top the scorer while sophomore Alissa Hebberd is second in points (12.0) and tops in rebounds (9.3).  Junior Patience Crane (10.0) is a third double-figure scorer.  Those three helped the Patriots pick up a 49-39 win over Springfield back on November 30th.
Springfield has won three of four and pushed highly ranked Sangre De Cristo (69-63) in their only loss during the stretch.  The Longhorns are coming off an impressive 55-36 win over Wiley that kept them in position for a league championship.
The Longhorns are also young as their top six scorers are underclassmen.  Alexis Crane (11.1) leads the list followed by Julia Mondragon (10.5) and Kylie Parks (7.8).  All three are juniors.
1A:  Briggsdale at Merino
Based on RPI standings from Monday afternoon, the Falcons would be seeded #1 and the Rams #4 in the District 4 bracket so this game could serve as a semifinal preview next week.  So even though this is a non-conference game, the potential rematch is why it made it our list.
Briggsdale (16-1) has been consistent all season with a lone road loss to Fleming keeping them from a perfect record.  Freshman Kylie Krise has been a major force this year leading the Falcons in scoring (16.4) and steals (3.5).  She’s also second on the team in rebounds (5.4) and assists (3.2).  Shelby Hoffman is an excellent second option as she averages 15.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.2 steals.
Merino is just one game over five hundred for the season (9.8) and has lost five of six but they could make some noise in the post-season due to scheduling.  Losses during the current slide have come against top 2A teams in Limon, Wray, Yuma and Holyoke along with 1A ranked Fleming.  Their lone win is also high quality as they stunned Haxtun 49-47 last week.  They made 11 three-pointers in that win including five from Hannah Pejsa-Stegner and three from Lydia Pejsa-Stegner.
4A:  Palmer Ridge at Discovery Canyon
With Sand Creek favored to beat Falcon, Discovery Canyon needs a win over Palmer Ridge to secure a share of second place.  The Scorpions and Thunder are both 9-4 in league play and tied for second behind top ranked Air Academy (13-0).  Palmer Ridge (8-5) is fourth following a loss to Sand Creek two nights ago.  They can earn back a share of third place with Discovery Canyon by beating the Thunder tonight.
Palmer Ridge is favored as the Bears cruised to a 60-36 decision in the first meeting.  The Bears trailed by one after the opening quarter but then outscored the Thunder 24-9 in the second and 15-4 in the third to take complete control.  Eden Bonser hit three treys on her way to a game high 15 points.  Hannah Dove and Sydney Day each chipped in 10 and 11 players scored for the Bears.  DC picked up 17 from Ashten Prechtel but the rest of the Thunder combined for just 19.
5A:  Legacy at Horizon
It’s a deep Front Range league again this year and if Horizon gets by this one, three teams should end up sharing the championship.  Horizon opens the night tied with Fossil Ridge and Broomfield in first with all three suffering just one league loss.  Broomfield and Fossil Ridge are both in action as well tonight but of the three leaders, Horizon has the most difficult task as Legacy is in fourth.  In fact, Horizon goes from a share of the title to fourth with a loss if both Broomfield and Fossil Ridge win as expected.
Broomfield meets Monarch and Fossil Ridge battles Rocky Mountain with both opponents at just 4-7 in league play.
All three first place teams should earn first round byes in the state tournament.  The top 16 RPI earn that advantage and today Fossil Ridge is 3rd in RPI with Horizon 7th and Broomfield 9th.  Legacy is only 24th and won’t be able to make that big of a jump; even with a win over Horizon.
 
2A DISTRICT TOURNAMENTS
The District 6 bracket opens post-season play in Class 2A as two pigtail games are on the schedule this evening.  Winners advance into the quarterfinals on Monday against division champions Swink (East) and Rye (West).
On the schedule tonight, Las Animas goes to John Mall and Swallows Charter heads to Crowley County.  Both games are set for six o’clock.  The Las Animas-John Mall winner challenges Swink and the Swallows Charter-Crowley County survivor meets Rye.
One other note involves the placement of Rocky Ford and Holly in the bracket.  They tied for second place behind Swink in the Eastern division and split two regular season games.  The second tiebreaker is RPI points so the league will wait until the standings are posted on Sunday to place the teams in the quarterfinals.  Finishing second has the advantage of playing at home in the quarterfinals while the third-place team must play on the road.
The RPI race is very tight.  Holly is ranked 17th (.568) and Rocky Ford 18th (.587) and are separated by just .001 in the standings.  Both teams are 12-7 with Holly having a very slight edge in strength of schedule.
 
3A FRONTIER TOURNAMENT
Three first round games can be found in the Frontier league tonight as the post-season in Class 3A gets underway.  Winners advance to the quarterfinals while the loser see an end to the season.

  • Jefferson at DSST-Stapleton
  • Bruce Randolph at Sheridan
  • KIPP Collegiate at Pinnacle