While the list of top games in girls’ basketball for Tuesday is few in numbers, it’s very heavy in important as some league championships could be decided. We look at the best four games and two of them feature league unbeatens going head-to-head.
Cedaredge at Delta: A second potential league championship game on the schedule tonight is between the two unbeaten teams remaining in the 3A Western Slope. The Panthers (4-0) and Bruins (3-0) lead Moffat County and Roaring Fork by one game in the loss. Delta has beaten Roaring Fork and also hosts Moffat County on Friday so two wins this week put them in great shape league wise. Cedaredge owns a win over Moffat County (42-38) so a win tonight also leaves the Bruins in great position. The teams have played once this season with Delta earning a 35-26 win. Keely Porter led Delta with 18 points and Sara Geddes added eight. Cedaredge picked up eight points apiece from Sophie Andrews and Makayla Kehmeier. Both teams hit two three-pointers and each collected 24 rebounds in a very tight game.
Jefferson Academy at Skyview Academy: This is the first of two very important games in the 3A Metro this week. Jefferson Academy begins play at 5-0 in the conference and tied with Lutheran (7-0) in first while Skyview Academy (5-1) is alone in third. JA also faces Lutheran on Saturday so the league championship could be decided over the next few days. If the Jaguars win tonight, then their game with Lutheran shapes up as a winner-take-all for the conference championship. A loss leaves Lutheran alone in first and the favorite to win on Saturday since they beat Skyview Academy last week. Jefferson Academy has won six straight since back-to-back losses to Platte Valley and Standley Lake. Leading scorer Rachel Moreno (11.8) is right on her average in league play (11.0). Lily Thimsen (9.6) has scored double figures in three straight including a conference best 15 in a win over St Mary’s Academy. Skyview Academy is 0-2 against Lutheran this year but 11-0 against all others. Two of their league wins are by single digits as they eat Faith Christian 33-28 and Machebeuf 49-42. Hannah Banko (14.3) and Ekko Hopkins (13.4) are the two double figure scorers.
Montrose at Fruita Monument: Coming off a big win over Durango last week, Montrose sits alone atop the SWL by one game over the Demons and Fruita Monument. They also face Durango in a rematch on Saturday so the Indians can basically wrap up the championship with wins in both. Against Durango, Montrose jumped to a quick eight point lead in the first and basically held the margin throughout in a 38-30 win. Kennadie Minerich led the offense with 13 points. Defensively, they limited the Demons to 29 percent from the field (11-38) and 4-11 from the arc. Fruita suffered a conference loss at Durango (41-26) on January 24th. They were outscored 28-17 in the second half. Callie Allen was 5-9 from the field and finished with 14 points but the rest of the roster hit just two of 34 from the field and tallied 12 points.
