Rangely girls split with Vail Christian, Hayden

RANGELY — Last weekend the Rangely Lady Panthers were hoping to come away with two solid league victories but were only able to secure one of the two.
On Friday, Vail Christian was in town thinking upset, but the Lady Panthers weren’t having it. The first quarter started a little slowly with Rangely holding a slim 7-6 advantage.
As soon as the defensive intensity and aggressive rebounding picked up, in the second quarter there was no looking back for the Cats. By halftime Rangely had stretched its lead to 27-12. The third quarter was more of the same as Vail was only able to muster six points to match its totals for the previous two quarters. By the time the third quarter started, the Lady Panthers’ lead was 21 and they were able to coast to another league win, 48-28.
As a team, the Panthers tallied 16 steals, including a team-high six for Heather Wanstedt. Victoria Phelan, Marie Morton and Audrey Hogan led a balanced scoring attack with 10, 11 and 12 points, respectively.
The second game of the weekend figured to be a bit tougher as the Lady Panthers welcomed Hayden to the Panther Den to try and avenge two losses at the hands of the Tigers earlier in the season. The game was nip and tuck throughout with each team holding a lead at some point of the game. Phelan was dominant on both ends of the floor adding another double-double to her resume with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Unfortunately, key turnovers and crucial missed shots diminished the chances of a Panther victory and they fell 42-45.