The Rangely Panthers played March 9-10 at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado, in the Great Eight of the CH- SAA 2A Girls Basketball tournament. Heading into the tournament the Pan- thers were the No. 7 seed and were set to take on the Cougars from Sedg- wick County High School. After winning their regu- lar season league title, the district five title, and the region six title with a 19-4 overall record the Pan- thers were looking to add to their list of achieve- ments by placing at the state tournament.
In their first game, scoring was a premium to both teams as the first quarter ended in favor of the Cougars 9-4. Juniors Annika Cantrell and Kastyn Dembowski scored two buckets. The Cougars played tough defense in the key that made the Panthers shoot more from the outside and the ball would just not fall through the basket for Rangely.
Spirits remained high heading into the second quarter. Dembowski added another basket to lead the Panthers with four points heading into halftime. Junior Ryann Mergelman scored three points in the quarter as the Panthers scored nine points in the first half.
The defense was able to keep the Cougars to their lowest scoring quarters of the season when they allowed nine points in the first and 11 points in the second quarter. In the locker room at halftime, head coach Jimmie Mergelman praised the Panthers for their defensive efforts and told the Panthers to “just keep shooting and the ball will eventually fall.” With the offensive adjustments in place, the Panthers did double their offensive output in the third quarter for the game.
With 10 points in the third quarter, the Pan- thers were able to bring the game to a 33-19 score. Sophomore Ashlynn Du- cey led the Panthers with five points in the quarter. Ducey used her fast feet and quick hands for mul- tiple steals in the quarter Rangely began to press on defense to try and climb back into the game. Sophomore Miah Wren also scored her first four points of the game in the third quarter along with one point from Mergel- man for the Panthers 10 points in the quarter.
Facing a 33-19 deficit going into the last quarter, the Panthers improved on offense by scoring 14 points. Cantrell scored three of her five total points in the fourth quarter. Cantrell did control the rounds for the Panthers as she pulled down 12 rebounds to lead all rebounders for both teams. Wren hit a three-point shot for the Panthers in the fourth quarter for her seven total points. Sophomore Emmeree Wagner scored three points in the quarter as well as the three afore- mentioned athletes to lead Panther scoring for the fourth quarter. Mergelman added two points and Dembowski added one more for the 14 total points in the quarter.
The fourth quarter offensive surge proved not to be enough as the Cougars defeated the Pan- thers 47-33. The loss sent the Panthers to the conso- lation side of the bracket to play Del Norte High School on Friday. Sedg- wick County advanced to the 2A Final Four where they defeated Burlington High School and then the championship game where they defeated Merino High School.
Looking to avenge their loss in the Great Eight, the Panthers took on the Del Norte Tigers in the consolation semi-fi- nal game. Del Norte was coming off their loss to Burlington the day before and the winner would advance to play Limon in the consolation championship game on Saturday. The Panthers put up 12 points to the Tigers 18.
Mergelman and Wren set the pace early as they both scored five points each. Cantrell added two points for the 12 points in the quarter. Looking to score more points than the quarter before was a goal of the Panthers in their conso- lation semi-final game.
They accomplished this in the second quarter scoring 13 points to the Tigers 14 points and headed into halftime down by seven with a score of 32-25.
Mergelman continued to pace the Panthers offense with five points, Ducey was next in scoring with four points, and Wren and Miley Chism scored two points each for the Panthers 13 points.
At halftime, Coach Mergelman praised the girls’ offensive efforts and made some defensive adjustments. The adjust- ments worked great for the third quarter as the Panthers showed they could be hard to deal with on offense scoring 19 points in the third quarter while only allowing six for the Tigers. Mergelman added five more points to her previous 10 for a team-leading 15 points. Ducey added five points as well to bring her total to nine. Wren knocked down a three-point shot for her 10 total points in three quarters. Cantrell added two points along with Chism for the Panthers 19 points.
Leading 44-38, the Panthers were looking to stay hot offensively and put away the Tigers.
The Tigers would not let that happen as they outscored the Panthers and win by a score of 51-47. Leading the Panthers on offense was Ryann Mergelman with 19 points, six rebounds and six steals. Miah Wren was next in scoring with 11 points, two rebound and one steal. Ducey scored nine points, four rebounds and one steal. Cantrell and Chism scored four points to round out the scoring for the Panthers in their final game of the season. The Panthers finished in seventh place in the 2A CHSAA division on the season.
Overall the Panthers finished with a 19-6 re- cord with an 8-0 record in the 2A/1A Western Slope League and a 4-2 mark in the CHSAA 2A State Basketball tournament. The Panthers will look to return to Loveland in the 2023-2024 campaign as they only graduate one senior this year, Macken- zie Manchester. The core group of 11 players will return next year and look to defend their league, district and regional titles. Returning will be Mergel- man, Cantrell, Dembows- ki, Emma Smith, Wren, Chism, Ducey, Katelyn Cox, Emmeree Wagner, Lexi LeBleu, Jade Miller, son Scott and Aubrey Kenney.
Special to the Herald Times
