Ladies beat Plateau Valley 48-30

RANGELY I The Rangely girls’ basketball team pounded the lady Cowboys from Plateau Valley 48-30 at home and will finish the regular season on the road, in Meeker Friday and Paonia Saturday.
“It wasn’t pretty but it was a win,” head coach Jimmie Mergelman said.
All five of Rangely’s starters scored in the first quarter with Quincey Thacker leading with six, Brittany Babineaux scored four, Haeley Enterline and Aimee Hogan each made a basket and Hailee Russell made a free throw in the first quarter to give the Panthers a 15-6 lead after the first quarter.
The lady Panthers only scored three in the second quarter and allowed Plateau Valley to score four, giving Rangely an 18-9 lead at halftime.
Rangely regrouped at halftime and came out to score 21 points in the third quarter to put the game out or reach for the lady Cowboys.
Babineaux made three baskets in the third quarter, Russell hit a three pointer and another basket in the same period, Enterline made two baskets, while Hogan, Thacker and Chelsea Ficken each made one in the third period.
Rangely outscored Plateau Valley in the final quarter 9-6 to win the game.
Thacker led all scorers with 13, Babineaux scored 10, Russell eight, Hogan seven, Enterline six and Ficken finished with four.
The final two games of the regular season will be important for district seeding purposes as the No. 1 and No. 2 games will have a first round bye in the district tournament. Currently, the Paonia Eagles are undefeated in league play and are the only league team to beat Meeker so far. Depending on the outcomes of this weekend’s games, the lady Panthers could finish as high as first with two wins, second with a win and a loss and third with two losses. All four teams to advance to district will also advance to the regional tournament in two weeks.