Lady Cowboys take out Rams

MEEKER I Extending their record to 14-1, the number eight ranked Meeker Cowboys girls’ basketball team soundly defeated Grand Junction JV, Soroco and Hayden this past week.
To start off their trio of wins, Meeker hosted Grand Junction Tuesday, Jan. 29. Taylor Neilson broke the ice for Meeker with a steal and a layup then the ‘Pokes jumped into their deadly full court press where Piper Haney forced a Grand Junction turnover. Meeker capitalized with an inbounds play where Neilson drained a three pointer. In their next attempt to make it over the half court line, a Tiger pass was picked off by Katie Dinwiddie and Meeker once again capitalized as Kaysyn Chintala sank a three-pointer. Finally, the Tigers answered with a bucket, but they could not catch the fierce play of the Cowboys as the quarter closed 11-2, Cowboys.
Meeker then ran with their lead, scoring 46 more points to the Tigers’ 23 to win the game 57-25. Neilson and Sydney Hughes wrangled up 13 points each, Chintala nailed eight, Deena Norell bucketed six, Haney and Amanda Kendall each had four, Kacey Collins sunk three and Bailey Atwood added a bucket.
Friday night against the Soroco Rams Meeker came out cold, missing five shots as Soroco took an early three point lead. Finally, Chintala was fouled on a three point attempt and drained all three free throws to tie up the game. Piper Haney hit the boards and chipped in two offensive rebounds and Dinwiddie dished in a jumper, but the Rams answered with a three and a bucket to end the quarter 9-8, Meeker. The Rams fired up one shot to take the lead for the last time in the game and their only points of the quarter. Neilson and Haney dumped in four more points. Chintala capitalized off of Meeker’s tenacious half-court trap with a steal and layup. With four minutes on the clock, the lady Cowboys led 15-10. Dinwiddie, Aly Ridings, Neilson and Hughes all pitched in for eight more Cowboy points, and Soroco could not make another shot. Hughes then hit a buzzer shot to give the Cowboys a 14 point lead going into halftime. In the Rams’ first possession Chintala picked off the ball and hit Neilson who hit both foul shots after being hammered at the bucket. Soroco quickly dished in three, three-point shots in a row to close the gap 26-19, but Haney, Chintala, Dinwiddie and Hughes all found the bucket to keep a safe lead, 34-19. Keeping their 14-plus lead throughout the game, the lady Cowboys defeated the Rams 53-36.
Chintala found the bucket for 15 points, Haney made 12, Hughes had seven, Dinwiddie and Neilson each drained six, Ridings sank four, Norell had a bucket and Kacey Collins made a foul shot.
At home on Saturday, the ladies fought Tigers again, this time from Hayden. After two previous games this season against Hayden where Meeker dominated, the lady Cowboys pulled their press early, played a full seven person bench and still hit the 80 point mark. Meeker jumped out 13-0 until half way through the quarter a foul shot from a Tiger put a mark on the opponent side of the board. Meeker added 10 more points and Hayden made a bucket, 23-3 end of the first quarter. Using a patient offense and pulling back on defense couldn’t stop the lady Cowboys from a high scoring game as Meeker ran away with it, 82-19. Ten Cowboys found the bucket with Neilson leading at 22, Hughes added 18, Dinwiddie nailed 10, Chintala and Kendall each dished in eight, Ridings made six, Haney sank four and Atwood, Collins and Norell all pitched in a bucket.
Meeker’s C team will travel to Craig for a tournament on Saturday and host Steamboat Monday, along with the JV team who earned two nice wins against Soroco and Hayden.
Coming off of a busy three game week the lady Cowboy’s head coach Greg Chintala is excited about “the chemistry on the court.” He noticed that “the intensity on floor grows with every game.”
Meeker has only one game this week when they host Vail Christian at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Chintala is looking forward to having a healthy team again as some injuries have caused limited playing time for a couple of players in last few weeks, but they are now on the mend.