Meeker girls easily win two more; record at 11-1

MEEKER I The Meeker High School girls’ basketball team came away with two more wins last week, to which coach Greg Chintala said, “We played very well both offensively and defensively” against the 3A Battle Mountain Huskies that came to town Tuesday evening.
Meeker came out strong, leading after the first quarter 17-11. The team added to the lead with outstanding defense, holding their opponents to just five second-quarter points while scoring 21 of their own.
Meeker came away with a sizable 69-34 win behind a balanced scoring effort with seven players scoring.
Taylor Neilson led the way with 18, followed by Aly Ridings with 14, Sydney Hughes had 13, Piper Haney and Megan Parker each scored eight, Deena Norell had six and Reese Pertile rounded out the scoring with two. Norell also grabbed nine rebounds and Neilson and Haney each had seven.
On Friday night, Meeker played DeBeque with the C-Team, and Chintala said, “The youngsters are really starting to come along.”
The lady Cowboys finished off their weekend with a league win over Plateau Valley, which Chintala complimented, saying, “They were a much improved team from the first time we played them.”
Meeker once again jumped out to their trademark first-quarter lead, scoring 20 points and holding Plateau Valley to just eight. Meeker added to the lead by halftime, up 36-17 at intermission.
Meeker’s opponents tried to make a comeback late in the game, but it was held off well by the Meeker tenacity as they finished the game with a solid 58-44 win.
Neilson once again led the offense with 17 points, Hughes had 13, Ridings had 10, Haney had eight and Norell and Parker each added four points. Haney was the team leader in rebounds with eight, followed by Hughes and Neilson with six.
The team is showing offensive consistency and getting great contribution from at least seven players in every game as they head into two league games this weekend. Meeker will play Soroco on Friday, and Chintala said, “We played them earlier this year and came away with an 18-point win. But the game was much better than the score indicated. This will be a good battle.”
Meeker will play Hayden on Saturday and the Meeker girls certainly look like they are composed for the challenge behind the balanced scoring threats and always-tough defense.