Lady Cowboys win league championship

MEEKER I The Meeker High School girls’ basketball team is league champion after winning two exciting conference games last weekend and giving them a first round bye in the district tournament. That also assures them a spot in the regional tournament.
Coach Greg Chintala said, “The theme of the week was, ‘effort, effort and execution,’ and we got all three in both games.”
The lady Cowboys dominated Hotchkiss on Friday night as they came out to a 15-0 first-quarter lead. The defense was relentless as the girls took a 25-12 lead into the locker room at half. Meeker came out with their signature third quarter, roaring to a 46-21 lead by the end of the third period. They finished the game 59-34 with extremely balanced scoring.
Aly Ridings had 15 points, Sydney Hughes added 14, Taylor Neilson and Deena Norell each had nine points, Piper Haney added six and Jamie McLaughlin, Megan Parker, and Reese Pertile had two points each. Haney led the rebounders with nine, followed by Norell with seven.
Meeker took their game on the road Saturday to play Paonia. The lady Cowboys once again came out with impressive tempo and took a 24-10 lead by the end of the first eight minutes.
The Eagles tried to slow things down but could only manage holding Meeker to 14 while scoring 11 of their own, making the halftime score 38-21 in favor of the lady Cowboys.
Meeker never let Paonia into the game, winning handily 59-34.
Once again, the combination of tenacious defense and team scoring proved to be an extremely strong combination. Hughes led the way, scoring 17 points, Neilson had 16, Ridings added 15, Haney had six, Norell had four and Parker added one. Ridings, Haney and Neilson led the rebounders with eight, seven, and six, respectively.
The team will have a week-long break and play the No. 4 seed on Feb. 28 to begin their post-season journey.