Lady Cowboys earn third

MEEKER I After three nights of games, Meeker’s girls’ basketball team came out with a handy win against the 4A Palisade Bulldogs. Under the direction of new head coach Greg Chintala, the lady Cowboys started the tournament with a 43-9 win against Crested Butte on Dec. 1. At the end of the first quarter, Meeker controlled the game with a wicked defense shutting out the Lady Titans 8-0.
The second quarter found the ‘Pokes still defensively powerful as they closed for halftime leading 17-4. When the final buzzer sounded, Meeker was headed for the second round of play head to head against 3A Grand Valley.
Friday night, Dec. 2, opened with Meeker once again taking a quick lead early in the game but ending the quarter down 9-11. Fouls began to mount on both sides and Grand Valley took advantage of their free throws making 20 of their 39 points of the game on the free-throw line. Struggling once again with their shooting from the floor and the line, the Lady Cowboys were down by 12 going into halftime.
Meeker didn’t give in, however, hitting the floor to put 14 points on the board and bringing them within six points of the Cardinals. The Cowboys fought back until the final buzzer, but lost by three, 38-41.
Coach Chintala noted, “We didn’t lose this game; we were just behind when the time ran out.”
Meeker out-rebounded the Cardinals 39 to 26, had nine steals to Grand Valley’s six, and 14 assists to only five from the Cardinals.
Saturday the girls faced off for the third place title against the 4A Palisade Bulldogs. Meeker’s defense once again kept the Bulldogs at bay as the Lady Cowboys jumped out 10-5 in the first quarter and kept a safe lead for the rest of the game. The remainder of the game proved to be another win on the stats board as the Cowboys walked away with eight steals and 39 rebounds in their 33-26 win.
Overall, coach Chintala felt that the girls — C team through varsity — “Had a successful weekend. There are skills to work on and fortunately we have two weeks to fine tune. We’ll talk about the good and work on the shortfalls.”
In addition to the varsity portion of the tournament, the Meeker junior varsity and C team played three games each. The C team started out their season against Hayden’s junior varsity Thursday and showed tremendous tenacity to come out on top. They came up short Friday against Crested Butte’s junior varsity and Saturday against little Snake River.
Meeker’s junior varsity met up with the Crested Butte JV Thursday night for their first team win 39-32. Friday they found themselves in foul trouble and finished the game with only four players on the court in a heartbreaking one-point loss, 41-42. Saturday they regrouped to hit the floor against Snake River’s JV. They won this game 38-37.
The varsity portion of the Shootout was won by Hayden as they defeated Grand Valley 50-40. Meeker took the third place trophy, leaving Palisade fourth, Rangely fifth and Vanguard sixth. Cedaredge defeated Crested Butte to hold on to the seventh place spot.
In addition to the tournament portion of the Cowboy Shootout, the Meeker Masonic Lodge prepared a breakfast for all of the participating teams and coaches Saturday morning. Following the breakfast, inspirational speaker Tracy Hill addressed the players.
Hill is a former Colorado player who earned a multitude of awards for her athletic performance at Ridgeway High School from 1979-1983. She still holds the record for the all-time leading scorer in the state, averaging 44.6 points per game. This extraordinary athlete challenged the young women present to be extraordinary themselves and passed out “Be Extraordinary” key chains to the teams.
“Realize this opportunity,” Hill stated, “live in the present, right here, right now. Today will never happen again!” As she closed her speech by emphasizing that the only thing it takes to be extraordinary is the “extra” you are willing to give to reach your goals, the Lady Cowboys jumped to their feet to lead a standing ovation.
The ladies then participated in a three-point contest won by Bailey Haist from Vanguard. Tournament MVP Erin Koehler of Hayden was recognized, as well as the all-tournament team: Haley Johnson, Grand Valley; Angel McNulty, Vanguard; Hannah Talbott, Palisade; Brittany Babineaux, Rangely and Taylor Neilson, Meeker.
White River Electric Association, Inc., sponsored the “Cowboy Shootout,” Meeker Masonic Lodge provided the breakfast, and Mountain Valley Bank, Rio Blanco County Abstract Company and Tri-State Generation and Transmission gave generous donations toward the successful event.