A couple of games postponed from last Friday headline the top games in girls basketball for Wednesday. Peyton-Simla face off in an important battle inside the 2A Black Forest while Skyview looks to nab a second consecutive league championship by beating Riverdale Ridge. We look at those and a few others on the list.
Photo provided by April Bajza of Peyton.
Peyton at Simla: Postponed from last Friday, this game will have a tremendous impact on the 2A Black Forest race. Simla starts the game tied for first with fellow unbeaten Colorado Springs School and both are one game up on third-place Peyton. For the Panthers, this is an elimination game as they dropped their matchup with CSS (39-32) and a loss to Simla eliminates them from the title picture. The Panthers have won four straight since the loss including a league win over Fountain Valley (66-38). Kayleigh Mannering (18.9) and Shelby Miller (12.5) lead the Panthers offense. Mannering has scored at least 26 points in three of her last four games including a season best 29 against Calhan. Miller has scored 42 points over her last three games including 16 in a rout of Burlington. Simla fell to Yuma to before Christmas with a second loss to top ranked Limon (49-40) in late January. Since the Limon loss, the Cubs have dominated Thomas MacLaren (64-16) and Las Animas (52-6) by a combined 94 points so the first unit is well rested for the matchup with Peyton. Kaitlyn Rector tops the Cubs in scoring (13.6) and rebounding (9.9) while Taylor Warnecke chips in 12.5 points and 4.8 rebounds. Halle Lutz (9.6) is very close to a third double figure scorer.
Skyview at Riverdale Ridge: Another very important game postponed from last week on the 4A level as the two teams are battling for the top spot in the Colorado 8 conference. Skyview (5-0) sits alone in first and can clinch their second consecutive title with a win while Riverdale Ridge hopes to create a three-way with Weld Central for the crown. The Ravens (4-1) are tied with Weld Central (5-1) one game back. Weld Central beat Riverdale Ridge by one point and lost to Skyview by 10. Sophomore Sienna Mullin (12.4) is the top scorer for Riverdale Ridge but the top player may be Carly Villegas. The junior scores 11 points and pulls 10.7 rebounds per game. Villegas went for 14 and 9 in the tough loss to Weld Central. Skyview is 12-0 over the last two years in league play and other than the 47-37 win over Weld Central; has won their league games by at least 28 points apiece. Defensively, they’ve allowed just 58 points over their last four games. Thalia Guardiola is the top scorer (11.6) abut also the top defender (3.6 steals). Overall, the Wolverines collect nearly 17 steals per game.
Rifle at Glenwood Springs: Yet another game that was delayed to tonight by Mother Nature from last week. It’s a matchup of the top two clubs in the 4A Western Slope but the gap is two games as the Demons are 7-0 in league play and the Bears are 5-2. Glenwood won the first matchup 52-17 and another win leaves them just one victory shy of clinching the league crown. Maddie Moser scored 13 and Natalya Taylor 11 in the first win and the Demons defense allowed just three made field goals the entire game.
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.
Highlands Ranch at Fossil Ridge: The Falcons of course will watch the Continental league battle between Regis-Mountain Vista but also look to score a huge non-conference win that impact the state tournament bracket. Fossil Ridge is #6 in RPI with the Falcons one step back at #7. The Falcons (14-3) has just one in-state loss to Cherry Creek and has won seven straight games since. Fossil Ridge must avoid looking past this one to a huge conference matchup with Broomfield on Friday as both clubs are unbeaten in the Front Range. The Sabercats are balanced with Lauren Zwetzig (10.6), Davin Tonn (8.2), Sophia Hadad (8.0) and Alexis Kohler (7.0) all average over seven points per game. The Falcons get a good share of their offense from the duo of Payton Muma (15.9) and Taylor Ray (13.9).
