Lady Cowboys lose two

MEEKER I The weekend wasn’t what the Meeker girls’ basketball team was hoping for. Last Friday, the girls traveled to Paonia to meet the defending state champions. In their previous game, Meeker surprised the Eagles with a hard-hitting full court press to lasso a six point win.
Friday’s game began with Paonia answering with their own full court press causing a spree of turnovers for the Cowboys. Adding insult to injury, Meeker couldn’t buy a bucket. The Lady Cowboys had many attempts but the ball would spin in and right back out of the basket. The Eagles stretched out an 11-1 lead in the first quarter. The second quarter didn’t improve much, as the rough game had Meeker scrambling for shot attempts. The Lady Cowboys were down 24-5 at halftime.
In the second half Meeker’s defense came alive as the Eagles were only allowed 12 points. The only high point of the game was Meeker’s defense.
“Defensively we played a good game,” Coach Deb Henderson said of her team. Overall, the Lady Cowboys held Paonia to 36 points. Unfortunately, Meeker only scored 15.
Saturday’s game at home against the Soroco Rams started out just the opposite. Meeker couldn’t miss. It looked to be near a 100 point ball game as the Lady Cowboys topped off the first quarter with 22 points, three points in front of the Rams.
The shooting extravaganza came to a halt as Meeker only scored seven in the second quarter. In the middle of the quarter, mounting fouls offered the Rams double bonus shots while presenting Meeker with single bonus opportunities. This foul fest found both teams putting several starting players in foul trouble. Tied at 27, the two teams had logged 18 fouls all together. This slowed the game down as the teams took turns at bonus shots. Despite these trips to the line, the score was deadlocked at 29 until a last-second bucket from the Rams sent them to the locker room leading by two at halftime.
Both teams started the third with a clean slate as fouls were cleared from the board. The teams clashed defensively to only allow a 34-39 score at the end of the third.
In the fourth the Rams took advantage of free throws and pulled out ahead as the fouls amassed. The Cowboys were down 37-46 with opportunities to score bonus shots. A few key turnovers and double bonus for both teams allowed a 45-61 victory for the Rams. At the final buzzer two girls from each team sat on the bench with five personal fouls. More than 40 fouls were recorded in the game.
Commenting on the weekend, Coach Henderson was “disappointed that they had a great week of practice and came out flat. We just have to take care of the ball.”
This Friday Meeker travels to Rangely and will host West Grand Saturday for their final regular season game.
Henderson truly feels “the girls are working hard in the gym and it will pay off!”