Ladies end season in Denver

RANGELY I The lady Panthers girls’ basketball team traveled to Denver last week and played the Lutheran Lions in the first round of the Region 4 tournament, held at Metro State College. The Lions beat Rangely 57-31 and advanced to the “Elite Eight” in Pueblo with a 52-45 win over Burlington in the championship game.
“It was a good experience for our team,” head coach Jimmie Mergelman said. “We only lose one senior (Haeley Enterline) so the experience will help for next year.”
The lady Panthers entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed matching them up with No. 1 seeded Lutheran.
“It wasn’t that we played bad against them,” Mergelman said of the game against the Lions, who will enter the state tournament as the No. 4 seed. “We played well in the first quarter and were only down by 11 at half.”
Rangely junior Brittany Babineaux scored half of her 12 points in the first quarter, classmate Quincey Thacker added four and Holly Lepro made a basket but they still trailed by five after the first eight minutes of play.
Thacker was the only Panther to score in the second quarter, making two baskets while the Lions added 10 to take a 27-16 lead into halftime.
“Then in the third quarter, we came out and didn’t handle the ball well,” Mergelman said. “They made a run and the game got away from us.”
Babineaux scored four points and Enterline made a free throw, while the Lions scored 15 in the third stanza.
The lady Panthers scored 10 in the final quarter but the Lions matched their third quarter output and the game was out of reach.
Babineaux led Rangely with 12, Thacker finished in double figures with 10 and Hailee Russell added four. Enterline made three of four free throws and Chelsea Ficken made a basket in the first quarter.
“We had a good season, I saw some good things,” Mergelman said. “We need to play better in districts to get a better seed but I think we had a good season.
The Panthers finished the season with a 14-9 record.
“We’ll start summer ball soon and get back rolling,” Mergelman said.