RANGELY I The Rangely High School girls’ basketball team played two good games over the weekend and nearly beat a tough Plateau Valley team Saturday.
The team began Friday against Little Snake River. The Panther girls fell behind in the first quarter 16-10, but they came back and matched the team from Baggs in the second quarter as the eight minute score was 9-9.
The third quarter found both teams increasing their offensive productivity and tempo, and the score was 49-39 headed into the fourth quarter, with Rangely trailing
The fourth quarter was just the opposite as the defense certainly got better but both teams combined for just two points total. The final score was 51-39 in favor of the Baggs team.
Coach Quinton Kent said, “Little Snake River almost doubled us on rebounds, which gave them too many second chance opportunities and not enough second chance opportunities for us. You combine that with the fact that we almost doubled them up on turnovers, and the end result isn’t pretty for us.”
The team showed great scoring potential and team effort as they were competitive in the game. Free throws down the stretch didn’t fall, but the team seemed to build some momentum for their game on Saturday night.
The Rangely girls came out strong against Plateau Valley, leading 13-11 after the first eight minutes. They fell behind 27-19 at half but showed a great deal of heart as they came out on the attack and outscored the Cowboys 18-13 in the third quarter, trailing only 40-37 going into the final period.
The girls played outstanding defense but found themselves in some foul trouble
Coach Kent said, “We just couldn’t hit the shots we needed to hit. We missed 11 shots in the paint. Even if we would have made three of those 11, we would have been tied and going into overtime.
“ We have to start making more of those shots if we want to beat good teams like Plateau Valley,” he said.
The team is improving as they get close to post-season play. They played competitively with both teams and had chances to win.
