DENVER — On Thursday morning, just before the 2018 event began, a group of volunteers and workers helped put the mats down at the Pepsi Center for the state wrestling tournament.
Week 11, the last of the regular season, is off and running!
More high scoring individual performances — including a 30-point SECOND HALF — from Ronnie DeGray III (Chaparral) highlights the early action.
Let’s take a look at some of the other top moments:
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The Look Back
Monday, Feb. 12
Low scoring affair early and Longmont, No. 3 in our latest poll, eventually pulled away from Northridge by 23 with Beck Page scoring 13.
Trent Dykema remains on fire folks for Silver Creek scoring 29 of his teams 58 points on 11-15 from the field in the 8-point win over Mountain View.
Xavier Bonham scored 23 for Greeley Central but not enough as Thompson Valley only allowed 4 points in the second quarter on the way to a 64-55 win.
Speaking of defensive quarters, No. 5 GW shut Denver North out in the second leading to a 95- 36 route. Shawn’trelle White led with 20 points.
No. 4 Denver East also coasted to an 88-26 blasting of Denver West with Kountz/Marble combining for 41. This sets up the top 5 match up of East/GW on Saturday for the City Championship!
Nieyeme Smeyer-Williams is averaging 15 points per game and Pueblo West needed him to avenge that 1-point loss to Pueblo East earlier in the season. P-West made it clear this time around 74-60.
Joe Madsen and Adam Thistlewood hat that inside/outside punch going combining for 39 points in the 9-point win over Green Mountain.
Quite a fourth quarter for for Pomona who outscored Arvada West 26-14 to pull off the incredible comeback win on the road!
Top 10 4A action in Valor/Evergreen and jumping out to an 18-11 first quarter advantage helped the Cougars pull off the 4-point home win 62-58.
Our No. 1 4A squad, Pueblo South, just doesn’t want to cooperate with us on posting stats!! And how we would love to see how the top squad ran up 100 in running away from Pueblo Centennial by 53!
Silver Creek held Centaurus to only 5 points in the third quarter and that led to a 74-58 win for the 4A No. 8 squad.
Our state’s No. 1 squad simply ran away from Ponderosa early and often! ThunderRidge 71-34, setting up one of the biggest games of the year on Friday in 1 vs. 2 match up of T-Ridge and Rock Canyon!
No. 9 Smoky Hill may be hitting their stride at the right time and big man Will Becker had a “monsta” double-double of 18 points, 18 rebounds in the tough 2-point win over Eaglecrest.
Speaking of double-double performances, Sam Masten rang up 26 points and 10 rebounds in No. 2 Rock Canyon’s thumping of Castle View by 43! T-Ridge up next…
An 18-5 fourth quarter along with 15 points from Goy Wang helped No. 7 Overland secure the 20-point win over Mullen.
Lewis Palmer, 4A No. 2, raced out to a 24-5 first quarter advantage over Air Academy and never looked back with Joel Scott scoring 18 with 6 rebounds in the win.
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Midweek Thoughts
The phrase “wide open” has probably been used a lot in recent years, but the teams in our 5A top 10 truly have the ability to take any of the others down on a given night.
Will be fun to follow whose depth and leadership can get their squad over the hump as we approach the playoffs.
Our Crew doesn’t think 4A is as quite as wide open with Pueblo South and Lewis-Palmer looking like favorites as we near seasons end, but teams like Golden and Longmont can certainly step up and ruin us seeing that rematch late season.
Will be fun to see how it all plays out.
Enjoy the last few days of the regular season, folks!
LITTLETON — The start of the Class 5A girls basketball state tournament is one week away.
The opening round is slated for Tuesday, Feb. 20, but Dakota Ridge coach Diane Thompson wouldn’t mind if the Eagles aren’t on the court a week from now.
“It is one of those things were I don’t remember when Dakota Ridge was that high of a seed,” Dakota Ridge coach Diane Thompson said of the Eagles’ possibility a top-16 seed. “The way the RPI works and how we’ve scheduled, all of our losses are to teams in the top-25. If you look at that you know you can play with anybody. The thing now is can you beat them.”
A strong late-season run — overtime loss to No. 7 ranked Fruita Monument and victory over a short-handed No. 6 Ralston Valley — has the Eagles (14-8, 8-3 in 5A Jeffco) in position to grab a top-16 seed and opening-round bye for the 48-team state tournament.
Dakota Ridge’s Emily Doolittle (11) elevates in the lane. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“We definitely got some fire from the Fruita game. They are one of the top ranked teams in the state,” Dakota Ridge senior Alexa Buchli said. “If we can hang with them we can hang with anybody.”
If Dakota Ridge, No. 15 in the RPI to start the final week of the regular season, gets a top-16 seed it would host a second-round game Friday, Feb. 23. The Colorado High School Activities Association is set to release the 48-team bracket on CHSAANow.com on Sunday.
The Eagles advanced to the Sweet 16 during the 2015-16 season as the overall No. 19 seed during Thompson’s first season at the helm of Dakota Ridge’s girls basketball program. Eventual 5A state runner-up Highlands Ranch ended the Eagles’ run two years ago.
“It’s amazing,” said Buchli, who played as a sophomore on that Sweet 16 team two years ago and was honored after the game along with fellow senior Skylar Lodice on Tuesday night against rival Chatfield. “We’ve come so far.”
Dakota Ridge kept its hot streak going Tuesday with a 77-67 victory over Chatfield.
The Eagles had four starters — Buchli (12 points), juniors Maggie Hawley (10 points), Sydney Daniels (11 points), along with sophomore Emily Doolittle (19 points) — reach double-digit points. The Eagles also got a nice contribution from their bench with sophomore Mallory Magana leading the way off the bench with seven points as nine different Dakota Ridge players scored in the victory.
“It’s definitely good having a bunch full of players that are capable of stepping up,” Buchli said.
Chatfield’s Madison Shepard (33) finds a lane to the basket. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Chatfield stayed within striking distance thanks to Tedy Reed. After not scoring in the first quarter, the Charger junior poured in a game-high 32 points in the final three quarters.
“We knew it was a rival game, senior night and it was a little crazy,” Thompson said. “When it comes down to it a win is a win.”
The Eagles get another shot against one of the perennial Jeffco powerhouses in Lakewood. Dakota Ridge hosts the No. 7 ranked Tigers at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15 to wrap up its regular season.
“We’ve got playoff coming up so we have to get better and better. That is what we are raring for,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t get any easier. We are trying to win every game from here on out and that is what you have to do.”
Lakewood (19-3, 10-1) officially clinched at least a share of the 5A Jeffco title Tuesday night with the Tigers’ 12th straight victory, a 65-48 win over Bear Creek.
“We just have to keep a positive mindset,” Doolittle said about heading into the playoffs. “We just have to keep looking to what our goal is, to get a W.”
Chatfield (10-12, 2-9), No. 25 in RPI before Tuesday’s game, wraps up its regular season on the road against Columbine at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16.
Chatfield junior Tedy Reed, right, blocks the shot of Dakota Ridge sophomore Taylor Legault. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Senior night is all about recognition and having fun. The Widefield boys basketball team did just that in their 67-57 win over The Classical Academy on Tuesday night.
“It was definitely bittersweet tonight with it being our last home game, but at the end of the day we all have really bright futures ahead of us,” said Widefield senior forward Tre Pierre. “Now we have to just go and make this last one a good one.”
Pierre led Widefield with 22 points to go along with key rebounds and assists. Senior T.J. Davis contributed 17 points, and Randall Days also provided a hefty 17 points. The three players combined to score 28 points through the end of the first half.
“We’re happy because we started off the season in the league with a 1-2 record and we had a lot of people who doubted us,” Davis said. “We knew that we could pull through and now we’re in the spot where we’re one game away from getting the league championship.”
Widefield (18-4 overall, 13-2 4A CS Metro League) led TCA 39-25 at halftime, but the Titans came out fighting in the second half. TCA (14-8, 10-5) cut the lead in the fourth quarter and were within ten points from Widefield. It wasn’t enough to take down Widefield, which is now on a 12-game winning streak.
“They just kept fighting back,” said Widefield head coach Mark Munoz. “That’s a credit to them and their coach and their resilience to play hard, but I’m proud of guys for getting the job done.”
(Kelsey Lowry/CHSAANow.com)
TCA was led on Tuesday by Jared Belcher, who scored 18 points and Michah Lamberth, who scored 15 points. The Titans will finish their regular season on Thursday with a home game against Harrison.
Going undefeated at home this season, the Widefield boys now switch their goals to the last game in the regular season, which will be against Canon City this Thursday.
“Our approach this season has been just one possession, one quarter, and one game at a time,” Munoz said. “We will enjoy this win, but it will be short lived because will be getting focused on Canon City.”
No matter what the score would have been Thursday night, one thing was evident: That Widefield was going to go out and just have fun. Smiles filled the gym, and that is how all senior night games should be played.
“We have a really good group of guys and I’m extremely proud of all of our seniors,” coach Munoz said.
