A few more teams in girls’ basketball have a chance to clinch league championships tonight and we look at those pairings and several more in our daily preview of the top games.
Photo is provided by Rachel Wells & Holy Family HS.
Soroco at Meeker: Coming off a narrow road loss to Hotchkiss (43-39) on Tuesday, Soroco must get the win at Meeker to stay in the 2A/1A Western Slope chase. Meeker (8-0) sits atop the conference with Hotchkiss (7-1) in second and Soroco (6-2) in third. Meeker also plays Hotchkiss on Friday so the top three spots in the conference could be finalized by the weekend. Tuesday’s loss ended a four-game winning streak for Soroco. They shot just 19 percent from the field overall and finished with just four three-pointers despite 31 attempts. Kourtney Bruner topped the Rams with 14 points while Kayedence Bruner and Makinley Parker both added six. The Rams did force 23 turnovers and collected five steals from Kayedence Bruner and four from Peyton Parker. Meeker knocked off Soroco 63-33 as part of the White River Tournament in December. Sarah Kracht (17) and Julia Dinwiddie (16) combined for 33 points and Hailey Knowles chipped in nine. Dinwiddie added 13 rebounds and five steals. Kristen Brown added four steals and Knowles three. Soroco hit 23 percent of their shots and was 5-24 from the arc in the loss.
Lutheran at Colorado Academy: The teams are separated by four games in the 3A Metro but Lutheran can clinch the championship with a win. They enter the game at 9-0 in league play with a one game edge on Jefferson Academy. The Lions topped Jefferson Academy 48-42 last week to take sole possession of the lead and have just one conference game left on the schedule (Manual) after tonight. Stephanie Schultz (15.6) tops the Lions in scoring and is second in three-pointers (24). Kaitlin Kyle (43) is the best outside shooter and she averages 9.8 points per game. Raelyn Kelty and Brindelyn Schneider are tied for rebound honors with 5.4 per contest. Colorado Academy (5-4) is fifth in the conference and likely can’t bump up from there but most importantly they’re 34th in RPI and would not make the tournament field if the bracket was released today. They need to climb two more spots to be eligible and may need to get higher as a couple of automatic qualifiers may not get into the top 32.
Thompson Valley at Northridge: A win gives Thompson Valley gives the 4A Northern conference championship. They’re 11-0 and lead Northridge (9-2) by two games with just three league games remaining. The Eagles are favored based on their 67-31 win in the first meeting with Northridge in late January. A quick start was the difference as the Eagles led 16-5 after one quarter and 37-13 at halftime. Sydnee Durtsche paced the offense with 19 points; Amelia Solt added 15 and three others chipped in eight. Karly Beck scored 11 for Northridge. Thompson Valley shot much better from the field (46-25%) and also won the FT battle 19-6. They pulled down 42 rebounds, led by Kate Gentrup with 13 and Durtsche with 12, compared to 32 for the Grizzlies. Beck also led that category with 11 for Northridge. Greeley Central (7-3) and Centaurus (7-4) also play tonight and that game will also factor into spots two through four.
Holy Family at Windsor: Concerning the Tri Valley league championship, this game is much more important to Holy Family as they go in sharing the lead with Berthoud and Erie. All three teams have two conference losses. Windsor is coming off a loss to Erie on Tuesday and now sit two games back in fourth at 10-4. They cannot climb higher unless they beat Holy Family and/or Berthoud next week and then get help from another league team against the Tigers or Spartans. Holy Family was alone in first but has dropped two straight to Erie (52-50) and Berthoud (54-37) so they need to end the slide before the post-season arrives. They have two conference games next week as they close with Skyline and Mead. The Tigers dumped Windsor 53-24 in the first contest. They jumped to a 16-4 first quarter lead and were not pushed from there. Alyssa Wells (16) and Dylan Sanders (11) both scored double figures for the Wizards and Makenna Bertsch pulled down 10 rebounds. Tyler Whitlock added six steals and five assists.
Regis at Mountain Vista: Highlands Ranch (7-0) and Regis (7-0) are heavy favorites to finish 1-2 in the 5A Continental but Mountain Vista (6-1) is hanging in there just one game back. The Golden Eagles did not match up well with Highlands Ranch in a 75-41 loss but they move close to a top two finish if they upset the Raiders Wednesday night. It will be difficult to do as the Raiders have outscored seven league foes by 287 points (41 per game). Avery Van Sickle (16.8) and Jada Moore (16.5) basically share the scoring lead for Regis with Moore also topping the rebounding stats with nearly nine per game. Mountain Vista has won six in-a-row. Leading scorer Mackenzie Gamble (10.7) has reached double figures in five of those six. She tallied 11 in the loss to Highlands Ranch.
George Washington at Rangeview: A nice non-conference matchup of two clubs with a combined 28 wins trying to improve RPI numbers before the end of the regular season. And both still have thoughts of a league championship. George Washington (15-4) remains in the running for the DPL championship and they’re 16th in Class 4A RPI. Rangeview (13-5) shares the EMAC lead with Thornton and Vista Peak and sits 16th in Class 5A RPI. The Raiders get 16.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a game from Nyera West while Brianna Linnear also adds 11.8 points per contest and Amaya Winfrey 7.4 rebounds. Jaida Redwine (16.8) leads GW on offense with Maya Whiteside chipping in 12.2 points and 7.5 rebounds.
