Lady Panthers end basketball season in pig-tail round

RANGELY I “Overall, this is a great group of young women who have outstanding character,” Rangely High School girls’ basketball coach Quinton Kent said of his team, which concluded its season Feb. 25 in Hotchkiss.
He went on to say, “While there were many disappointments on the season, we were proud of our girls for sticking with it.”
The season for the Panthers was plagued with injuries and resulted in several freshmen finding a great deal of varsity playing time. This time will pay dividends for the team in the future, the coach said.
“We feel like with what we have returning and the group that is coming in, we will be a better team next year. In two or three years, we have the potential to be a great team,” Kent said, in reference to the undefeated eighth-grade team and a seventh-grade team that is very competitive as well.
The team will miss the leadership of seniors Tessa Slagle, who provided consistent play on both sides of the floor, Chelsea Ficken, who was injured but was the team leader to that point in rebounds, and Aimee Hogan, who led the team in scoring all season.
Rangely ended its season in the pig-tail round of the district tournament against Hotchkiss 34-69.
Kent said, “I was proud of our effort.”
The Rangely team found itself in a hole early as the Bulldogs jumped to a 19-6 lead after the first period. The lady Panthers went into the locker room down 35-14, but were doing some good things against a bigger Hotchkiss team.
“We did a good job rebounding as we were almost even on rebounds, which was not an easy task considering they were much bigger than us,” Kent said.
Lindzey Thacker led the team in rebounds with seven, followed by Simone Heinle with six and Slagle with four.
The Panthers found much more productivity out of their offense in the final quarter and outscored Hotchkiss 14-11. It was not enough to take the lead, but a positive way to end.
The coaches said they look forward to working hard over the summer, playing a lot of basketball and coming back ready for next year.